A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Trump administration is allowing people from Ukraine and Sudan to keep their temporary humanitarian protections and continue living in the U.S. - for now. The protections had been due to expire Monday. Over the past year and a half, the Trump administration has terminated temporary protected status for more than a million people. Here's NPR's Jasmine Garsd.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Curbing access to TPS has been a key part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. So far, it's revoked the status for immigrants from over a dozen countries, including Venezuela, Haiti and Afghanistan. But this week, as the expiration of their TPS loomed, tens of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of Sudanese immigrants got a break. In a statement Monday, Homeland Security told NPR a decision on both countries will be, quote, "made at the appropriate time." Until then, the agency added that Ukrainians and Sudanese who are enrolled in the program will retain their TPS status.
Denis Nakonechnyi is the executive director of Ukrainian American House, a nonprofit that serves the large Ukrainian community in Sacramento, California. He estimates some 3,000 of the families his organization works with are on TPS. And he says his community has mixed feelings. The reprieve is appreciated, but it keeps them in limbo.
DENIS NAKONECHNYI: We are grateful that people are not losing protection today, but it's very hard to be in a limbo. They don't know if they can keep working next month or if they can make normal decisions, you know, in these circumstances.
GARSD: Homeland Security did not give any details about how long Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders can stay or when a final decision on their status would be made.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, Washington.
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