Temporary legal protections for about 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador were in limbo Wednesday as a deadline neared for the Trump administration to decide if they should end, as they have for hundreds of thousands from Venezuela, Haiti and other countries.
The Temporary Protected Status designation expired Wednesday but the statute does not give a specific time for when that happens. If the Department of Homeland Security takes no action, protections are automatically extended for six months. This rare reprieve happened in May, when the protections were automatically extended to about 11,000 Lebanese, allowing them to stay and work in the U.S. for another 180 days.
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DHS said in a statement Wednesday that it will announce a decision on El Salvador "at the appropriate time" and that protections would remain in place until then.
About 200,000 people from El Salvador have lived in the U.S. since 2001 under TPS, which allows people already in the country to remain with work permits for renewable periods of up to 18 months, if the secretary of homeland security determines conditions are unsafe for return. They are eligible for work permits.
In Florida, an estimated 45,000 Salvadorans are at risk of losing the legal protections and work authorization they have relied on for years, Florida Immigrant Coalition Executive Director
Tessa Petit said in a statement.
"These are Florida workers, parents, homeowners, business owners, students, neighbors, and community members who have spent decades putting down roots in the only country many of them have known as home," she said. "The Trump administration must immediately extend TPS for El Salvador and stop treating longtime members of our communities as disposable."
Petit also wants Congress to approve legislation that would create a permanent pathway to legal status for all TPS holders and others who have spent decades living, working, and contributing to the U.S.
“We have seen what happens when this administration strips communities of their protections: families are thrown into uncertainty, workers lose their livelihoods, and people who have spent decades building lives in America suddenly find themselves targeted for deportation," she said. "Salvadorans deserve permanent stability, dignity, and a pathway to citizenship.”
Trump administration has ended protections for more than a dozen countries
During President Donald Trump's second term, Homeland Security has ended TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria. In addition to El Salvador, only people from three other countries remain protected with termination dates in October for Ukraine and Sudan, and November for Lebanon.
The Trump administration obtained a major victory in June when the Supreme Court ruled that Homeland Security acted within its authority by ending TPS for about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. The impact of the decision extends far beyond Haitians and Syrians, potentially affecting nearly 1.3 million people from 17 countries on TPS.
Tom Homan, Trump's "border czar" who has advocated for ending TPS, said Tuesday that the decision rests with the Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
"If it expires, it's up to the secretary," Homan said when asked about TPS. "Temporary protected status means temporary. Let's face it, El Salvador is a much safer country than it's ever been now with a new president up there."
Congress created temporary protections in 1990
TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.
It was granted to El Salvador following two devastating 2001 earthquakes that left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Just before leaving office, President Joe Biden extended TPS for El Salvador for 18 months to Sept. 9, 2026.
El Salvador has been a Trump ally
Once one of the most violent places in the world, El Salvador has become one of the safest countries in the Americas since Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele ordered mass arrests in 2022. In April 2025, the State Department upgraded El Salvador's travel advisory to its highest level, citing a drop in violent crimes and murders.
Bukele has been an ally of Trump's policy of mass deportations and El Salvador was one of the first countries to receive deportees and held them at a mega prison also known as CECOT.
Human rights groups and advocates have denounced mass and arbitrary arrests, torture, and disappearances in the Central American nation's prison system.
Trump received Bukele at the White House in April 2025 and invited him to participate in a military coalition to fight against drug trafficking and organized crime. In July 2026, Trump and Bukele met again in Washington, the Salvadoran president has not publicly stated whether he requested an extension of TPS from the Trump administration.
In 2019, during the first Trump administration, Bukele asked Trump to extend TPS. It remained because there were lawsuits.
Salvadorans in the U.S. sent $9.9 billion in remittances to El Salvador last year, representing 24% of the country's gross domestic product, according to El Salvador's central bank. ___
This story has been corrected to show that TPS has ended for people from 13 countries during Trump's second term, not 14.
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WLRN News Staff contributed to this story.
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed to this report.
