The Biden administration has announced a renewed deportation amnesty for Ukrainians who have reached the U.S., giving nearly 200,000 people 18 more months of tentative legal status and work authorization.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the ongoing war with Russia has created a humanitarian crisis that Ukrainians shouldn’t be forced to return to.
So he flexed his powers to grant them what’s known as Temporary Protected Status.
“We will continue to offer our support to Ukrainian nationals through this temporary form of humanitarian relief,” he said.
The Biden administration had previously announced TPS status at the start of the war in early 2022, and some 26,000 Ukrainians came forward to take advantage. They will be given a chance to renew their status for another 18 months.
But since that last announcement, another 166,700 Ukrainians have made their way into the U.S. — some legally and others illegally — and they now have a chance to apply, too.