Chicago – April 12, 2025
The Department of Homeland Secretary will not renew temporary protections for thousands of Afghans in the U.S. — setting them up for potential deportation starting on May 20.
Temporary protected status, or TPS, is a government protection for people from countries experiencing conditions such as war or natural disasters, who cannot return there safely. TPS shields them from deportation and grants them work authorizations.
Over 9,000 people from Afghanistan were covered by TPS as of September 2024. The Biden administration first designated people fleeing Afghanistan as eligible for TPS in 2022 in response to turmoil in the country under Taliban rule, which began after the withdrawal of U.S. troops a year earlier. In 2023, the Biden administration extended TPS for Afghans, noting that the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan remained too dangerous for them to return to the country.
But in a Friday statement, DHS assistant secretary of public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said upon review of conditions in Afghanistan, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem made the decision to end TPS for those who had fled the country.
“The Secretary determined that Afghanistan no longer continues to meet the statutory requirements for its TPS designation and so she terminated TPS for Afghanistan,” McLaughlin said.
She added that the decision was based on a review from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), as well as a consultation between USCIS and the Department of State. The DHS also plans to revoke TPS for people from Cameroon, the New York Times reported on Friday.
