DHS Secretary Nielsen Extends ‘Temporary’ Amnesty for South Sudanese

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen extended a temporary amnesty status for nationals from South Sudan a week after announcing a similar move for Sudanese, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and El Salvadorans living in the United States.

On Friday, Nielsen announced that she would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 84 South Sudanese nationals living in the U.S. through November 2020. Despite the TPS program being designed to be temporary, eligible South Sudanese nationals have enjoyed amnesty in the U.S. since November 2011.

Nielsen’s extension of TPS for South Sudan comes just a week after the Homeland Security secretary announced that she would extend TPS for more than 300,000 Sudanese, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and El Salvadoran nationals living in the United States.

Trump sought to end TPS for the more than 300,000 foreign nationals in the U.S. from Sudan, Haiti, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, prompting a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — an open borders lobbying group funded by billionaire George Soros. Nielsen’s decision to extend TPS will allow the foreign nationals to stay in the country until at least January 2020, a reversal of the administration’s initial plan.

The Trump administration has been approving and renewing TPS for foreign nationals in the U.S. at Obama era levels. For instance, in Fiscal Year 2018, the Trump administration approved TPS for more than 258,000 nationals. This is about the same level of TPS approvals as Fiscal Year 2015, when Obama was in office.

TPS has become a quasi-amnesty for otherwise illegal aliens created under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 (INA) that prevents the deportation of foreign nationals from countries that have suffered through famine, war, or natural disasters. Since the Clinton administration, TPS has been transformed into a de facto amnesty program as the Bush, Obama, and now Trump administrations have continuously renewed the program for a variety of countries.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.