WASHINGTON — Democratic senators are urging President Joe Biden to extend temporary protections for migrants in the U.S. before he leaves office, warning that millions of people could be forced to return to unsafe countries once President-elect Donald Trump retakes the White House.
The senators have been quietly urging the White House to take executive actions that would attempt to extend legal protections for migrants into Trump’s administration, and the White House has been discussing what steps to take.
But any actions from the outgoing president would happen in the wake of an election that Trump won on promises of hardline immigration enforcement. The Democratic Party is also debating internally how it should approach immigration and border security after its election losses.
The Biden administration earlier this week made permanent a rule that extends work authorizations for asylum seekers, but has not made commitments on other priorities for immigration advocates and Democrats. With just weeks remaining before Biden leaves office, several Democratic senators took their pleas public Wednesday.
“The urgency of the next 40 days will remain,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said at a news conference. “So we’re going to keep pressing.”
The senators from the Congressional Hispanic Conference urged the White House to re-designate or renew Temporary Protected Status for migrants from Nicaragua, Ecuador and El Salvador, as well as issue an order to expedite renewals for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Over 1 million migrants in the U.S. rely on TPS, which allows people already in the country to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. Trump has suggested he would scale back the program as he looks to implement the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
“We know the incoming administration is going to try to implement chaotic immigration policies that tear our families apart,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., adding, “But we have a chance to do something about that right now and give these families as much legal protection and reassurance as possible.”
While Trump could attempt to undo some of the actions, they would set up a legal impediment and give migrants stronger legal standing to challenge Trump’s orders.
In 2017, the Trump administration announced the end of TPS for Nicaraguans, saying that it was no longer needed. But TPS holders challenged the legality of that decision in a lawsuit in court. Since then, the duration of TPS for Nicaragua depends on a court order from a federal judge.
The White House is considering taking action to extend temporary protections for some nations, but nothing has yet been decided, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations.
Redesignating protected status for some nations would involve a more serious undertaking because it would grant people the right to stay in the U.S. from the date it was designated and a determination on the safety and security of the nation must be done. The renewal procedure only involves those already in the U.S. who would be allowed to stay longer.
In the last months, advocates have ramped up pressure on the Biden administration re-designate Nicaraguan migrants for TPS, which would protect thousands of people from deportation. Hundreds of religious, immigration and human rights organizations argue that the combination of political and environmental circumstances make it unsafe for Nicaraguans to return to their country.
“We don’t know how politics can change with Trump and TPS gives us peace of mind,” said Grethel Gomez, a 60-year-old Nicaraguan activist and asylum petitioner who could benefit from TPS. “There is horror of deportation, and this would give us security.”
Gomez’s son was a human rights activist in Nicaragua and was detained for 45 days. She took to the streets to protest and ask for his release and was also persecuted, she said.
Gomez left Nicaragua clandestinely and arrived in the United States with a tourist visa in 2021. Less than a year later she requested asylum, but she has not yet had any interviews and fears that her process will be hindered during the Trump administration.
TPS could also benefit those Nicaraguans who came under a separate Biden program called humanitarian parole and have temporary legal status that expires after two years. Trump has said that he will end the parole program.
Other immigrants, such as Jose Cabrera, a TPS holder from El Salvador, have lived in the U.S. for decades. But the TPS designation for El Salvador ends in March.
Cabrera, who took time off from his landscaping job to speak alongside the senators at the Capitol Wednesday, said, “I’m proud to be part of this community. But right now, there’s so much fear among immigrants like me, especially with the new administration coming in.”
