The Trump administration has moved to end temporary protected status (TPS) for people from 13 countries since 2025, and Catholic bishops warn that people may still face unsafe conditions if forced to return.
TPS is an immigration status granted to eligible foreign nationals from designated countries that are deemed unsafe to return to due to ongoing conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.
Multiple nations will lose their designations in coming months. TPS for El Salvadoran nationals will expire Sept. 9. Designations for Sudan and Ukraine are set to expire Oct. 19, while Lebanon's will end Nov. 27. TPS for Haiti ended July 27.
Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Migration, said bishops are focused on Haitian nationals "because that's the community most affected right now, and now lives in a fear because they could be deported any time."
The situation there "is pretty dire," he told EWTN News. "The government is ending the temporary protected status and wants to return people to Haiti," but "in our judgment it's not safe, and there's a moral question of returning people to Haiti right now."
"The bishops themselves from Haiti have … said 'it's just not safe,'" he said.
In April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation, H.R. 1689, that would extend TPS for Haitians for three more years. No legislative efforts have gained traction in the Senate.
"We're hoping, politically right now, for the Senate to agree to a resolution the House has already passed," Cahill said.
In January, Cahill called on the administration to extend TPS for Haitians. In June, Cahill followed up after the Supreme Court allowed TPS designations for Haiti and Syria to end, calling for other options including "deferred enforced departure."
"If we have, in good faith, offered temporary protected status, we should not return people until we deemed it safe to go back," Cahill said in an interview. "And what's the criteria? And that's the question for politicians to work out: 'What's the criteria for determining when it is safe that a person can return to their country?'"
"Justice is about human dignity and how we treat other human beings," Cahill said. It's an "injustice" to somebody who has been here legally, "to all of a sudden say, 'We're going to take it away and send you back,'" he said.
"It's about justice and right reason," he added.
Temporary protected status across U.S.
As of March 31, 2025, the U.S. provided TPS protections to about 1.3 million individuals from 17 countries including Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, Ukraine, Honduras, Afghanistan, Nepal, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Syria, Burma, Nicaragua, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Lebanon.
Since the program's inception, nearly 30 countries have received TPS designations, some more than once. TPS designations can be, and usually have been, extended.
TPS holders reside all over the United States. As of 2025, the largest populations of TPS holders live in Florida (403,965), Texas (147,080), New York (98,250), California (79,320), and Georgia (50,110), according to the National Immigration Forum.
The Trump administration has ended, or moved to end, TPS for 13 of the 17 nations. The programs for Venezuela, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua ended throughout 2025.
In 2026, TPS for South Sudan, Burma, Haiti, Somalia, Yemen, Haiti, and Syria were terminated or expired. In February, a district court blocked the terminations for Haitian and Syrian nationals, but in June the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration to officially terminate the designations.
Self-deportation
Once TPS protection ends, a TPS holder will revert back to his or her previous immigration status, and those who no longer hold status in the U.S. will potentially be subject to removal proceedings.
While the TPS designations end, DHS is encouraging people without status to self-deport rather than be deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"Once non-criminal illegal aliens submit their intent to depart through the CBP Home Mobile App and pass vetting, they will be temporarily deprioritized by ICE for detention or enforcement action before their scheduled departure," DHS reported on its website.
Those who do self-deport will receive "cost-free travel, a $2,600 exit bonus, and forgiveness of any failure to depart fines," according to DHS.
According to the department, those who self-deport can potentially return to the United States legally. It is unclear what would allow or block potential reentry, and returning is not guaranteed. Those who are deported by ICE are unable to return with legal status.
"Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary," DHS said in a statement shared with EWTN News. "For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent."
