President Joe Biden has more than tripled the number of foreign nationals allowed to remain in the United States through a quasi-amnesty program, the Congressional Research Service reveals.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was first created under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 and prevents federal immigration officials from deporting nationals of countries designated as experiencing famine, war, or natural disasters.
Since the Clinton administration, TPS has been transformed into a quasi-amnesty program as the Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations have continuously renewed the program for a variety of countries.
Under Biden, TPS has ballooned to unprecedented levels.
The latest Congressional Research Service report finds that more than one million foreign nationals remain in the U.S. thanks to TPS. In addition, nationals from Hong Kong, Palestine, Lebanon, and Liberia remain in the U.S. through Deferred Enforced Departure (DED).
When Biden took office in late January 2021, fewer than 320,000 migrants were in the U.S. as a result of securing TPS.
Today, 17 countries have TPS designations: Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Most TPS migrants are concentrated in several states, including Florida, Texas, New York, California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
Congressional Research Service
Biden’s expansion of TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians has been particularly notable as the designations have been linked to waves of illegal immigration at the southern border from Venezuela and Haiti.
About 900,000 Venezuelans in the U.S., for instance, either have TPS or are newly eligible for the program thanks to the Biden administration. Likewise, more than 300,000 Haitians were afforded TPS earlier this year.
Even as TPS has grown to historic levels, Senate Democrats are asking Biden to quickly offer TPS to hundreds of thousands more migrants in the U.S. who do not currently have any immigration status.
“I’m asking the administration to come in now to protect some of the immigrant communities — TPS recipients, DACA recipients,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) told MSNBC.
Already, on Biden’s watch, the foreign-born population has hit a record nearly 52 million or roughly 15.5 percent of the United States population. At the current pace, the foreign-born population will hit more than 82 million by 2040.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
