101,000 Ukrainians, 1,800 Sudanese Get TPS Reprieve From DHS

More than 100,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan can remain in the United States without immediate risk of deportation after the Department of Homeland Security said Monday that they "retain protection" under Temporary Protected Status, even though that status was scheduled to expire the same day, according to the Associated Press, via The Guardian.

What did DHS actually say?

DHS issued a written statement saying an announcement on the future of the program "will be made at the appropriate time." The department did not set a new expiration date and did not say how long the reprieve will last. In the absence of a formal extension or termination, DHS said the existing protections continue to apply to those already covered.

How many people are affected?

Temporary Protected Status was due to lapse Monday for roughly 101,000 Ukrainians and about 1,800 Sudanese nationals living in the US, the AP reported. TPS is a designation that lets people from countries affected by war, natural disaster or other extraordinary conditions live and work in the US without facing removal, typically reviewed and renewed in increments set by DHS.

Can TPS holders still work?

DHS did not respond to a question from the AP about whether Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders can keep their work permits during the gap. TPS generally allows recipients to work while their protections remain in effect, and the department's statement that migrants "retain protection" suggests those permits continue for now, though no explicit confirmation was given.

Why is the timeline unclear, and who is affected by that uncertainty?

The Trump administration has previously moved to end TPS designations and return protected populations to their home countries, the AP noted, making Monday's reprieve the latest instance in which the administration allowed a deadline to pass without issuing a final decision. Andrew Arthur, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors lower immigration levels, said the government faces no deadline forcing its hand and that nothing changes until it acts. "It's simply going to be an extension until it is a termination," he told the AP.

Yuriy Boyechko, chief executive of Hope For Ukraine, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid in Ukraine and helps resettle arrivals in the US, offered a different read on the same facts, calling the move "last-minute patches."

"It's a bandage that has been placed on a wound that does not solve the real issue," Boyechko said, adding, "It's time for US to come up with some normal path to permanent residency for all these people."

Boyechko told the AP that many Ukrainians under TPS cannot safely return home, a point that underscores why the status of the program matters beyond the immediate paperwork question.

What happens next?

DHS has not said when a final decision will be made or what form it will take — a new multi-year extension, a short-term bridge, or termination with a wind-down period. The agency's statement leaves open all three paths. Readers should watch for:

• A formal Federal Register notice from DHS setting a new TPS expiration date or confirming termination for Ukraine and Sudan designations.
• Any litigation challenging how DHS handles the gap between the lapsed deadline and a final decision, a pattern seen in prior TPS disputes under the current administration.
• Guidance on work authorization, since DHS has not clarified whether existing Employment Authorization Documents remain valid without interruption.
• Statements from Ukrainian or Sudanese diplomatic missions or advocacy groups like Hope For Ukraine on conditions in the home countries that bear on whether return is feasible.
• Congressional action, if any, on a permanent residency pathway — the solution Boyechko said he wants but that DHS's statement does not address.

The Guardian's report, citing the AP, is the only account of DHS's statement and the accompanying reactions; DHS has not published a separate public notice elaborating on the Monday statement as of this writing. The originating story also solicited reader questions on immigration and the 2026 midterms, an indication that further DHS guidance on TPS is likely to surface as a campaign-season issue in affected communities.

For now, the practical result for the roughly 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese covered is continuity without clarity: protection stands, but neither its duration nor its endpoint has been defined by the department responsible for setting it.