‘A Critical Window’: Democrats Demand Biden Dole Out More Deportation Protections Before Trump Returns

Several Democratic senators are pleading with President Joe Biden to bolster Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) within the few days he has left in office.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Alex Padilla of California and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico held a press conference on Wednesday alongside immigration activists to highlight their demands for the outgoing administration to extend these deportation protection programs before both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris leave office. Both TPS and DACA, the Democrats are cautioning, could be on the chopping block when President-elect Donald Trump resumes office and gets to cracking down on illegal immigration across the country.

“President Biden still has a critical window to take concrete steps within his legal authority to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants from family separation,” Andrea Flores, vice president of immigration policy for FWD.us, said alongside the Democratic lawmakers. “To fail to act now, to deny safety to the very people we welcomed in and provided refuge to, would be a terrible mistake that will harm millions of immigrants, mixed status, and American households for years to come.”

The press conference followed a letter the Democratic senators sent to Biden earlier in December, specifically asking the outgoing president to renew or re-designate TPS for migrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Ecuador, and to also issue an executive order expediting renewals for DACA recipients.

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TPS designation provides temporary deportation protection to foreign nationals in the U.S. whose home countries are deemed currently unsafe for their return due to political instability, natural disasters or other humanitarian concerns. There are roughly 860,000 individuals with TPS in the U.S., according to data compiled by the American Immigration Council.

However, a longstanding critique of TPS is that it’s temporary in name only, with many TPS designations being continually renewed over the years. Many countries currently under TPS will see their designation expire as soon as 2025 — when the Trump administration will be fully back in control.

DACA, a program established by the Obama administration in 2012, provides deportation protection and employment privileges for those that entered the U.S. unlawfully at a young age and have remained for a number of years. There are around 530,000 individuals who are currently enrolled in DACA, according to the National Immigration Forum.

Trump — who won election in November on a hardline immigration platform — has pledged to conduct the largest deportation program in history, end birthright citizenship for those born to illegal migrant parents, continue construction on the U.S-Mexico border wall, beef up Border Patrol staffing and a slate of other measures. In order to help him lead this effort, he has tapped South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem to serve as Homeland Security secretary, former ICE acting director Tom Homan to serve as border czar, longtime aide Stephen Miller to serve as a top policy advisor, former Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott to serve as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and Caleb Vitello to lead ICE.

While the president-elect has indicated that his administration will scale back TPS, he has shown interest in working with Democrats to keep DACA in place. The controversial program has been repeatedly challenged in court since its inception.

“We have to do something about the Dreamers,” Trump said Sunday during an NBC interview, referring to the name of illegal migrants who entered the country at a young age. “I will work with the Democrats on a plan.”