We will not know the full extent of the Trump Administration’s immigration plans for another couple of months. However, we are predicting actions that may be likely based on the first Trump administration’s policies in 2017-2021 and the information available in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 publication. Please join us as we preview actions the Trump Administration may take in 2025, the impact on businesses and employees, and actions we can take to prepare.
Issue #6: Failing to Renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Categories and Ending Uniting for Ukraine (U4U)
What is the Policy?
Temporary Protected Status (TPS), created by Congress in 1990, is a means by which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may allow nationals of (or stateless people last residing in) certain countries, afflicted by war, natural disaster, or similar conditions, who are currently in the U.S., to remain in the U.S. for some time. TPS is typically designated for 6 to 18 months and often extended. A grant requires an individual application, fee, and background checks, and provides work authorization, travel permission, and protection from deportation. For people eligible for a later change of status or green card, TPS provides time in lawful status to allow for these applications, though TPS does not itself lead directly to a green card. Currently, 17 countries are designated for TPS, and over 860,000 people are recipients, the majority from Venezuela, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Ukraine.
Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) is a humanitarian parole program, started in 2022 by the Biden administration, by which DHS allows Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members abroad to move to the U.S. for 2 years in a period of parole, with a possible additional 2-year grant of re-parole. (Parole allows DHS to permit a temporary entry, on a case-by-case basis, for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.) Ukrainian parolees in this program must have a supporter in the U.S. who financially supports them during their stay. While in parole, beneficiaries receive automatic work authorization. Beneficiaries must have resided in Ukraine immediately before the Russian invasion in 2022 and have been displaced by it. Ukrainians already in the U.S. are not eligible for this program, but may be eligible for TPS for Ukrainians. Since its start, U4U has benefited over 220,000 Ukrainians (and 430,000 more arrived under an earlier form of humanitarian parole).
Advocates connected to the Trump administration have alleged that TPS, while ostensibly temporary, has often become permanent due to repeated extensions. These advocates claim that at least some TPS-designated countries are no longer dangerous, such that TPS for these countries should be terminated or allowed to expire. As for U4U and other Ukrainian parole programs, these advocates and Trump have generally opposed humanitarian parole, for a similar rationale as for TPS. (Trump is the only president ever not to order parole since its creation in 1952.)
We predict that Trump will allow at least some TPS designations to expire. DHS may try to affirmatively end TPS before expiration, but such an action would be legally riskier. As for U4U and other Ukrainian parole, we predict that Trump’s DHS might try to end it or let it expire. If many TPS recipients and Ukrainian parolees lose work authorization as well as lawful status, both they and their employers would be affected.
Why Would the Trump Administration Implement This Policy?
The Trump administration would try to end TPS because it did before. In 2017-18, the Trump administration announced its intent to eventually end TPS for Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, El Salvador, Nepal, and Honduras after they were set to expire. DHS’ explanation was that TPS should be temporary and that the countries were safe enough for the TPS recipients to return. However, DHS was challenged by litigation contending that the terminations were racially motivated, otherwise unconstitutional, and procedurally unlawful. A federal district court prevented terminations for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan from proceeding until 2024, before which the Biden administration preserved, extended, and/or redesignated (expanded) TPS protections for all six of these countries. The Biden administration DHS also expanded TPS to Venezuela, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Myanmar (Burma), Syria, and Lebanon. Under Biden, overall, TPS eligibility was extended to a record number of individuals.
The second Trump administration would likely try to terminate TPS or at least let it expire for at least some countries. Fourteen TPS designations are set to expire in 2025 and 4 in 2026. Because a TPS designation, redesignation, extension, or termination is a policy, not a regulation or a formal rule requiring notice and comment, DHS can make these decisions without significant administrative burden. However, DHS may be vulnerable to litigation as to how it procedurally makes these decisions, as it was in the first Trump term.
As for Ukrainian parole, Trump may seek to end U4U and its predecessor due to his general opposition to humanitarian parole. A parole program is a DHS policy, not a rule or regulation, and DHS can make these decisions without significant administrative burden. DHS can terminate an individual parole grant at any time if it deems the beneficiary to be violating the conditions or if it deems parole to be no longer warranted.
How to Prepare
Due to the uncertain future of these programs under Trump, U.S. employers and their employees who are recipients of TPS or Ukrainian parolees should consider alternative nonimmigrant visa or green card options for which they may be eligible. To receive individualized advice, speak to your designated Meltzer Hellrung attorney.
