Washington, D.C. (July 9, 2021) -
A new article from the Center for Immigration Studies reports that President Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has extended and "redesignated" Yemen’s TPS designation for another 18 months, through March 3, 2023. With mass amnesty legislation currently stalled in Congress, the Biden administration continues to resort to the closest alternative it can implement through the Executive Branch.
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, was designed to be a temporary form of relief that allows certain aliens to remain in the United States for a period of time if the DHS secretary determines that conditions in the home country temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely. Once the DHS secretary designates a country for TPS, beneficiaries—often illegal aliens who had no intention of voluntarily returning home—are generally not removable, are permitted to work in the country, and may receive permission to travel abroad. It’s often said that “There’s nothing as permanent as Temporary Protected Status.”
Consistent with the Biden administration’s new TPS designations for Haiti and Venezuela, the stated reasons for the (unlawful) “redesignation” for Yemen (i.e., the granting of work permits to
new illegal aliens, in addition to renewal of those who already have them) fail to meet the statutory requirements of a designation. Neither economic woes or poverty, or the existence of Covid-19, which is worldwide, prevent Yemenis from returning to their country in safety.
Instead, this ultra-vires application of TPS benefits every Yemeni who found his or her way into the country since the 2017 TPS extension. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) email announcing the Mayorkas decision, an additional 480 Yemeni illegal aliens will benefit.
In less than six months, the Biden administration has granted amnesty-lite to nearly 500,000 illegal aliens from five countries. This includes, 320,000 Venezuelans, 100,000 Haitians, 1,800 Syrians, 1,600 Burmese, and now almost 500 Yemenis.
