Terminating Temporary Protected Status for Afghan nationals
On May 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Federal Register notice announcing that DHS is terminating the designation of Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan. The TPS designation for Afghanistan is set to expire on May 20, 2025, and the Trump administration has decided not to renew it, citing a change in country conditions—namely that conditions in the country have improved—which DHS argues justifies its decision to terminate the Afghanistan TPS designation. The termination of the program will be effective on July 12, 2025, after which Afghan TPS holders will be required to depart the United States. Afghanistan was initially designated for TPS by the Biden administration on May 20, 2022, based on ongoing armed conflict and other dangerous country conditions, such as economic collapse and health concerns, human rights abuses, and repression. On September 25, 2023, DHS extended and newly designated Afghanistan for a period of 18 months, beginning on November 21, 2023, and ending on May 20, 2025. DHS notes in the notice that they estimate there to be approximately 11,700 nationals of Afghanistan who currently hold TPS.
Impact: TPS is a form of administrative immigration relief that is determined and implemented by the executive branch, although the authority for TPS is authorized by statute. Those who qualify for TPS are issued a registration document and are protected from deportation while a TPS designation is in place for their country of origin, and they are eligible to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (i.e. a work permit), allowing them to be employed lawfully and (in practice) have workplace rights, for the period during which the TPS designation remains active. Because of DHS’s decision to terminate TPS for Afghanistan, the nearly 12,000 Afghans with TPS will lose their protections from deportation and their work authorization. Many of the Afghans who have TPS may have assisted U.S. troops during the 20-year U.S. war against the Taliban, for example, by working as interpreters. Depriving them now of the right to remain in the United States and earn a living risks sending them back to dangerous conditions in their home country, which has been destabilized by years of armed conflict, and where they are likely to face retaliation and persecution by the current regime.
https://www.epi.org/policywatch/terminating-temporary-protected-status-for-afghan-nationals/
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