The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on October 13 that Ukrainians and Sudanese currently covered by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States retain "their existing protections," after the designation was due to expire the same day. The move amounts to a temporary hold on deportations, coming after President Donald Trump's administration has repeatedly sought to end similar protection programs.
According to figures released, about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese are covered by the TPS extension. DHS said a formal notice "will be issued at the appropriate time," but did not say how long these people may stay or when a final decision on their status would be announced.
DHS also did not answer questions about whether those affected will keep their work permits. Under standard TPS rules, however, beneficiaries remain permitted to work for as long as the protections stay in force.
It is the second time in about a month that the US administration has handled a case this way. Nearly 200,000 Salvadorans whose TPS expired on September 9 were likewise kept under existing protections, with a notice saying a decision would come "at the appropriate time" and that in the meantime they could continue to work and live in the United States.
Speaking to reporters, Yuriy Boyechko, executive director of Hope For Ukraine, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid in Ukraine and resettlement support for new arrivals to the US, described the government's move as "last-minute patches."
He called it "a band-aid on the wound but not a solution to the real problem." He said it is time for the US to build a normal pathway toward permanent residency for these people, stressing that they cannot return to Ukraine safely.
For his part, Andrew Arthur, a national security and immigration expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors restrictive immigration policies, said the government will eventually make a decision but is not bound by any deadline. In the meantime, nothing changes.
"Quite simply, it will be an extension until it is terminated," Arthur said, arguing that both Sudan and Ukraine are experiencing prolonged armed conflict, so it is within the secretary's authority to keep TPS in place for each country.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has ended TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria.
Ukraine was first granted TPS in April 2022, after Russia launched its military campaign two months earlier. Former President Joe Biden's administration later extended the designation, most recently in January 2025, when DHS granted an additional 18 months of protection running through October 2026.
The TPS program for Sudan was established in 1997 and has been extended under successive US presidents because of armed conflict and political instability in the African country.
The October 13 decision comes just two weeks before the midterm elections, when Trump's hardline immigration policies will be put to the test at the ballot box.
