The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the extension of work permits for hundreds of thousands of migrants with temporary protected status in the United States, including Syrian nationals, just hours before they are officially set to expire.

The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Saturday that the work permits granted to migrants from Syria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan, and Myanmar who are covered by temporary protected status will expire within one week from the date of the announcement, while the permits of citizens of the Republic of Haiti covered by the same status have been extended to expire on July 24.

The US Supreme Court issued a ruling affirming the legality of government measures aimed at ending the temporary protection status of citizens of Syria and Haiti, and the court rejected legal challenges filed by human rights groups to demand the continuation of the effects of this previous protection.

Effects of temporary protection

Under U.S. federal law, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) provision allows aliens already within the U.S. territory to stay and work lawfully and regularly, if it is proven that their countries of origin are facing ongoing armed conflict, natural disasters, or temporary exceptional circumstances that prevent them from returning safely.

In official claims to the relevant government agencies, U.S. labor unions said they had urged the extension of work permits for these migrants, and the unions explained in their statements that the abrupt halt to the renewal of these documents and the cancellation of their legal effects directly leads to widespread workplace disruptions and administrative chaos, as well as disruption of production in key economic and service sectors that depend on these workers.

Human rights warnings and concerns

In the same context, US human rights organizations and groups have issued reports in which they confirm that the trend towards ending protected status is depriving hundreds of thousands of people of official work permits and the legal protections against deportation, noting that the deportation campaigns and strict measures followed have created an unsafe environment for ethnic minorities and have raised growing concerns about racial discrimination.

The administration has announced in its adopted policy programs the implementation of strict policies and measures to address the arrival of migrants and the implementation of deportation campaigns, and has taken measures that have made official immigration pathways more difficult, including imposing new and exorbitant fees on applicants for specific residency visas, in addition to approving new mechanisms that require mandatory scrutiny of the personal accounts of applicants for immigration applications and migrants on social media.

US President Donald Trump has stressed in previous positions that these measures and policies followed by his administration are directly aimed at improving the levels of internal security in the country, securing job opportunities and protecting them for the benefit of American citizens.

These legal and administrative developments come in conjunction with the approaching deadlines set for the expiry of extended permits, amid anticipation from legal and trade union bodies about the situation of migrant workers covered by the decision after the expiry of the official deadline announced.