The Biden administration recently issued yet another bizarre immigration action, but most Americans probably didn’t notice. I’m talking about the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to extend and “redesignate” Temporary Protected Status for more than 700,000 illegal aliens from Venezuela that the Biden administration has already allowed into the U.S. To many Americans, this may sound like a niche policy decision that only immigration policy experts care to discuss. That’s what the Biden administration is counting on. Don’t be fooled, this is the epitome of an America Last policy.
To understand why I am sounding the alarm, it is important to understand the historic abuse of Temporary Protected Status by successive administrations since Congress created it in 1990. Under the law, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security can designate a country for Temporary Protected Status if there is an ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or “extraordinary and temporary conditions”. Importantly, such conditions must prevent the safe return of nationals of that country. Despite the name and the intent of Congress, there is nothing temporary about Temporary Protected Status.
Here’s why. Once the Secretary designates a country, nearly all illegal aliens in the US from that country receive a work permit, relief from deportation, a Social Security number, and the ability to obtain a driver’s licence. Prior to President Trump, administrations of both political parties continually extended the designation and its attendant benefits, using increasingly absurd justifications such as the presence of “coffee rust” in a country. Re-designation”, i.e. moving up the cut-off date for eligibility, is blatantly illegal and serves to benefit the illegal aliens who made it into the US after the initial designation.
The Biden administration’s abuse of Temporary Protected Status has reached another level. There are currently 16 countries with Temporary Protected Status. This includes reinstating designations for six countries that the Trump administration properly terminated, but activist courts interfered with until the change in administration. The Biden administration is also responsible for five new designations, by far the most of any administration in less than three years. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security has ‘redesignated’ all but one of the countries up for review.
This is nothing less than amnesty by executive fiat.
In fact, it seems that Temporary Protected Status was always the end game of the Biden administration’s open border policy. Step one was to literally throw open the border by ending the Remain in Mexico policy, releasing illegal aliens into American communities en masse, and gaslighting the American people by denying that there is a crisis. When the optics of millions of illegal aliens streaming across the southern border became too politically damaging, the administration moved on to phase two, which was to redirect illegal immigration under the guise of ‘legal channels’. Specifically, this move involved the parole programme created by the Department of Homeland Security to fly 30,000 inadmissible aliens per month into the US from Venezuela, as well as Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua. This is a clear abuse of that authority. This policy is being challenged in court, and I believe the Biden administration knows it will lose.
And that’s where the devious third phase, Temporary Protected Status, comes in. Everything about the Venezuela decision smacks of political impropriety. Based on my experience dealing with Temporary Protected Status decisions as an assistant secretary, the Venezuela decision should have been made in January 2024, about 60 days before it expires in March 2024. So why is the administration so many months ahead of this? It seems to me that the Biden administration expects the courts to strike down its parole programmes as unlawful, which would make all those illegal aliens subject to deportation.
And even if this administration doesn’t deport anyone, the next America First administration will. In an effort to launder the unlawful parole program and obstruct the next administration’s ability to easily remove illegal aliens, DHS has “redesignated” Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status to cover the approximately 472,000 illegal aliens the Biden administration has allowed into the U.S. since the original designation in 2021.
Expect this weaponisation of Temporary Protected Status to continue. The day after the Venezuela decision, DHS “redesignated” Afghanistan’s Temporary Protected Status. Although the additional 15,000 or so illegal aliens from Afghanistan that will now be covered are far fewer than Venezuela’s, this is the beginning of a flailing and failing administration plan to designate new countries for Temporary Protected Status and to “redesignate” existing countries. Before the Trump administration, fewer than 500,000 illegal aliens had Temporary Protected Status. Under President Biden, the number is at least 1.5 million.
The cartels and traffickers are undoubtedly applauding this new policy, as they can easily market to vulnerable migrants the high likelihood that they will eventually be covered by Temporary Protected Status if they can make it to the US before the end of the Biden administration.
