1. Home
 / Modified mar 1, 2019 3:49 p.m.

Feds Extend Temporary Protected Status for People From Four Countries

A professor says the roughly 10-month extension leaves bigger questions unanswered. by Matthew Casey, Fronteras Desk

US DHS flags The American flag and a flag bearing the seal of the Department of Homeland Security.
Barry Bahler/DHS

The federal government has announced that it is extending temporary protected status for people from four countries until January 2020, which helps keep it in line with a court order.

Under President Donald Trump, federal officials announced plans to end temporary protected status for people from a handful of countries.

The decisions led to a lawsuit, and a federal judge blocked the government from ending the program for people from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan.

Cecilia Menjivar, a sociology professor at UCLA, studies temporary protected status. She said the roughly 10-month extension leaves bigger questions unanswered.

“What about the other groups who are not included in this extension?” Menjivar said. “And, even more importantly, what about the long term?”

Temporary protected status generally lasts for 12 to 18-month periods. Near the end, the government decides whether to extend the program, or ask people to leave the United States.

Fronteras Desk
This story is from the Fronteras Desk, a collaboration of Southwestern public radio stations, including NPR 89.1. Read more from the Fronteras Desk.
MORE: Fronteras Desk, Immigration, News
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona