Ukrainians and Sudanese Keep US Deportation Protections for Now, DHS Says

Ukrainians and Sudanese living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status will keep their protection from deportation for now, even though their status was set to expire on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said on Sunday.

In statements to CNN and CBS News, the department said final decisions on the two programs "will be made at the appropriate time." Until those decisions are announced, nationals of Ukraine and Sudan enrolled in TPS will retain protection, DHS said.

What TPS does

Temporary Protected Status is a form of humanitarian relief. It lets people fleeing war, natural disasters or humanitarian crises live and work in the United States for a set period without fear of deportation.

As of March 2025, more than 100,000 Ukrainians and more than 1,790 nationals of Sudan were enrolled in the program, according to federal data cited by CNN. The protections for both countries were officially slated to terminate on Monday, Oct. 19.

A reprieve inside a wider crackdown

The decision to keep the protections in place, while not final, runs against the direction of the Trump administration's wider policy. Over the past year and a half, the administration has revoked TPS protections for more than 1 million immigrants from over a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Venezuela, CBS News reported. Administration officials have argued that the permissions are temporary, not a permanent solution, and have criticized past administrations for extending them again and again.

The Ukraine and Sudan programs are now among a handful of TPS designations still in place. El Salvador is in the same position. Its designation was set to lapse last month, and DHS kept Salvadoran protections in force pending a final announcement, the same holding pattern it has now applied to Ukrainians and Sudanese.

In June, the US Supreme Court allowed the administration to end temporary deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti and Syria. People who have lost TPS status face the risk of detention and deportation, and many Salvadorans told CNN last month that they worry their own reprieve could end at any time.

For Ukrainians and Sudanese in the program, Sunday's statement removes the immediate deadline. It does not settle what comes next. DHS gave no date for its final decisions, and until they come, the protections rest on the department's word that enrolled migrants retain them.