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Biden Administration Extends and Redesignates Yemen for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

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Administration Should Continue to Use TPS as a Tool to Extend Protections for Those Seeking Refuge from Dangerous Conditions

Today the Biden Administration announced it would be redesignating and extending TPS for Yemen. The following is a statement from Douglas Rivlin, Director of Communication for America’s Voice, in response to the 18 month redesignation and extension for Yemen:

Today we celebrate alongside Yemeni TPS holders, their families, and advocates who worked hard to make this announcement happen. The Biden administration’s decision to redesignate and extend TPS for Yemen comes after months of advocacy and organizing. 

Yemen continues to descend into crisis amid widespread food and water insecurity, destruction of infrastructure, and dire humanitarian and economic conditions exacerbated by the ongoing impact of a 2016 cholera outbreak and the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 crisis, all of which make a safe return to Yemen impossible.

We are glad to see the Biden administration using TPS exactly as it was intended: to protect immigrants and their families in the instance that their country of origin is unsafe for return or if return would cause further instability. The Biden administration should continue to use TPS as a tool to provide life-saving protections for those fleeing unstable and dangerous conditions around the world.

The Biden administration has broad discretion to use executive action to protect immigrants who are already living, working, and paying taxes here, but there is an important role for Congress, too. Congress must act this year to establish a path to citizenship for immigrants and make it as broad as possible. The American people are  impatient and tired of waiting. Congress has the power this year to enact legislation that formally recognizes that deeply rooted immigrants are already Americans, they just lack the paperwork that makes it official.  The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, the Dream and Promise Act, the Secure Act and other bills that create a path to citizenship can move to enactment this year if Democrats use every legislative lever to overcome Republican obstruction and make it happen.