US says immigrants from Ukraine, Sudan can keep protected status for now

Immigrants from Ukraine and Sudan can keep their temporary protected status in the United States for now, ‌the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday, the day protections had been set to expire.

In a statement, a DHS spokesperson said that announcements on Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders would "be made at the appropriate time" and that ‌their immigration protections would remain in place. Temporary protected status allows people already in the US to stay in ‌the country and work legally if their home countries are affected by natural disasters, armed conflict or other extraordinary conditions.

The temporary respite is the second in as many months for certain immigrants under the TPS program, even as US President Donald Trump has moved ⁠to ​expel other foreign nationals as ⁠part of an aggressive immigration crackdown. In September, his administration allowed TPS holders from El Salvador to retain their protections after earlier moving ⁠to revoke them from Haitians, Venezuelans, Somalis, Yemenis, Syrians and others.

The latest allowance comes as Trump has pivoted away from Ukraine ​in recent days, declining to impose tougher sanctions on Russia over the four-year-old war and lifting ⁠sanctions on Moscow's diesel exports. Some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict have registered for TPS status in the United States.

There are an estimated ⁠6,800 ​TPS holders from Sudan, where a war between the army and a rival paramilitary has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Global Refuge, a faith-based refugee-focused nonprofit group, welcomed the respite for Ukrainians and ⁠Sudanese enrolled in TPS but urged an official decision to give enrollees, their dependents and employers certainty.

"The appropriate time ⁠to act was ⁠weeks ago. Families who depend on this status to stay safe and keep working deserve a formal decision in writing," Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the group, ‌said in ‌a statement.