ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Department of Homeland Security has extended the temporary protected status of over 100,000 Ukrainian and Sudanese people who were set to lose their protections on Monday, Oct. 19.
With the extension, about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese can continue to live and work in the U.S. without immediate risk of deportation. News10NBC spoke with several Ukrainians in Rochester who feared what would happen if their status expired. Valentina Voitovych and Yuliia Kozak both fled the war in Ukraine to resettle their families in Rochester.
Catholic Charities Family and Community Services has helped to resettle around 2,500 Ukrainians in Rochester since the war began in 2022, with hundreds currently relying on TPS. The charity urged the federal government to extend TPS, saying an end to protections would disrupt the lives of families who have established roots in Rochester.
In its announcement on Monday evening, Homeland Security didn’t specify how long the extended protections would last. Check back for any updates.
More about the federal government’s TPS policies
Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries impacted by natural disasters or armed conflicts. Ukraine was first designated for TPS in April 2022, two months after Russia’s full-scale invasion. The TPS program for Sudan was established in 1997, and since then, multiple U.S. administrations have extended it because of armed conflict and political instability.
President Donald Trump’s administration decided to end TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and Syria. However, last month, the administration decided to keep the protections for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans whose TPS was set to expire Sept. 9.
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