Trump administration keeps El Salvador’s TPS in place for now, but offers no guarantee of its future

The 170,000 Salvadorans living in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program get to keep their protection for now. On Wednesday, September 9, the deadline passed for the Donald Trump administration to decide whether to renew the program shielding them from deportation, but no decision was announced. Under the statute governing TPS, that silence automatically triggers a six-month extension.

For the time being, Salvadorans can continue working, but the government’s brief statement offers little reassurance. In a release, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said an announcement regarding Salvadorans’ status would come “at the appropriate time” and that, until then, “Salvadoran individuals present in the United States under TPS retain protection.”

“We can breathe, let’s say, but it’s not an ideal situation,” says Francisco Semião, president of the National Salvadoran American Association (NSAA). In his view, the government’s unwillingness to clearly announce a renewal raises questions about its intentions and does nothing to end the uncertainty facing the tens of thousands of people whose lives depend on the decision.

In limbo

The National TPS Alliance, the organization that has spent decades fighting for the rights of TPS holders, also warns that Salvadorans remain in limbo. “They say in their statement that we’re still protected for now, but I don’t know for how long, which means that is not the final decision,” its general coordinator, José Palma, tells EL PAÍS. “We’ve entered a gray area, legally speaking, and for now all we can do is wait for the official announcement.”

Palma believes the government could still announce the program’s termination in the coming days. “Honduras was notified of its termination two or three days after the deadline. The government’s interpretation of the law is that they are required to decide 60 days before the program expires, but not to make it public,” Palma explains.

As part of its immigration crackdown, one of the pillars of Trump’s second term, the administration has ended TPS protections for 13 of the 17 countries that previously held the designation. Its argument is that TPS is a temporary rather than permanent program and that conditions in migrants’ home countries have improved enough to allow their return, a claim that is highly debatable in places such as Haiti, Syria, and Venezuela, all of which have lost the protection.

The TPS program was created to grant temporary residence to citizens of countries experiencing extreme violence, armed conflict, or natural disasters.

El Salvador first received TPS because of the civil war that gripped the country from 1979 to 1992, and again in 2001 following two devastating earthquakes. Those who benefited from TPS have now spent 25 years in the United States, a country they consider home. Congress has never offered them a path to permanent residency or citizenship, preventing them from improving their immigration status. They have built businesses, bought homes, started families, and raised American children. The prospect of having to leave everything behind remains a nightmare that the DHS statement has not dispelled.

“We don’t know what to do, whether to sell the business, the house, or so many other things we’ve built,” says Semião.

TPS grants residence and work authorization for renewable 18-month periods. Salvadoran beneficiaries have been renewing their status and paying the associated fees for more than two decades. Trump tried to end the program during his first term, but the courts blocked him. During his second term, he has stripped hundreds of thousands of people of their protections and deported many of them, while Salvadorans remain on a knife edge.

Semião hopes the proximity of the midterm elections will work in their favor. Trump’s popularity has fallen to low levels, partly because of the aggressiveness of his immigration policies. The ongoing war with Iran, the high cost of living, and rising gasoline prices have eroded support among voters who backed him in 2024. Polls suggest that on November 3 he could lose control of both chambers of Congress, where Republicans currently hold majorities.

“I don’t think he’ll make a decision against TPS before the election. It wouldn’t help him politically,” Semião says.

For now, the 170,000 Salvadorans covered by TPS remain protected from deportation, but only temporarily.

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