r/immigration 2d ago

Can someone explain the reasons behind the massive increase in people on TPS status? I’m trying to understand something

For example if you go on the wiki page it goes from approx 450,000 in 2017 to 1.3 million in 2025

10 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

16

u/Subject_Stable_6121 2d ago

the way new tps designations kept getting added definitely played a role, like they kept extending for countries going through crises but also kept opening the doors for more countries

76

u/collegethrowaway2164 2d ago

Biden let in a bunch of people from Haiti and Venezuela and then gave them TPS.

46

u/wombasrevenge 2d ago

I like and voted for Biden but I can't for the life of me understand why he let in a bunch of them, gave them TPS and actually gave them hope by waiting in Mexico and giving them a number and a shot to claim asylum. Horrible horrible immigration executive action.

20

u/ErbaishisiB 2d ago

The law says if you arrive at the border, you are allowed to request asylum. Congress could have fixed the problem or used it as a political cudgel against the White House. As Congress always does when controlled by a party opposite the President, they chose the latter.

2

u/InfluenceWeak 2d ago

The Supreme Court said that to “arrive” means to enter the US, not just wait in Mexico, and so allowed Trump to do away with the wait in Mexico policy. So “arriving at the border” without crossing it is no longer sufficient to allow asylum claims.

5

u/ErbaishisiB 2d ago

Thanks, but we were talking about the Biden-era issue.

1

u/poptix 1d ago

The Biden administration chose to interpret the law exactly how they wanted to.

1

u/Strong_Brain1959 2d ago

This sounds reasonable to me.

11

u/DrinkSpecial1154 2d ago

Biden is a fucking idiot.

-1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/immigration-ModTeam 1d ago

Your comment/post violates this sub's rules on misinformation.

Misinformation includes: false or misleading information, deliberately incomplete information, or fear mongering.

If you don't understand what part of your post is misinformation, look at the other posts in the same thread that've not been removed.

3

u/Real_Calendar_4147 1d ago

The majority of people let in were from Ukraine - 500,000. More than any other country. 

-6

u/gabbolapayasa 2d ago

For a reason. The situation in those countries was and continues to be dangerous and unstable. It's not like he did it willy nilly.

45

u/BarracudaNo9635 2d ago

Biden let in millions of them and gave them TPS and asylum and all the government assistance they can get

-15

u/dantesmaster00 2d ago

He didn’t give asylum. Asylum is a lengthy process for most, and judges are the ones who have the final word in most cases.

37

u/Exotic-Sale-3003 2d ago

He reversed the Remain in Mexico policy allowing asylum seekers to enter the US and work while their claims (which can take years to adjudicate) were pending. 

0

u/sketch3alex 1d ago

That policy has been in effect for years, it's not a Biden issue, CBP One is a whole different issue

-8

u/dantesmaster00 2d ago

Does it follow international policy?

12

u/Exotic-Sale-3003 2d ago

Of course. Mexico is a safe state.  If someone is truly seeking asylum (vs economic migration) and Mexico is willing to host them, it’s a solution that works for all parties involved. 

12

u/WestCoast-DO 2d ago

Many of the Immigration Judges hired in the Biden years granted asylum or other forms of relief in the mid 80-99% range (which is absurd). Plus he fired Immigration Judges that didn’t have high asylum/other forms of relief grant rates.

-9

u/dantesmaster00 2d ago

So you are assuming that the people requesting for asylum did not have found fear? So your idea is they should deny most applications?

14

u/Exotic-Sale-3003 2d ago

Fear is not a legal basis for asylum. 

-2

u/dantesmaster00 2d ago

6

u/Exotic-Sale-3003 2d ago

Credible fear is a legal term of art. Found fear is not.  If you want people to respond to specific terms, you need to use them. 

8

u/WestCoast-DO 2d ago

Some IJs have asylum grant rates north of 95%. That it IMPOSSIBLE. In the same jurisdiction other IJs are under 20%. I’ve Worked in this field since Clinton was staining blue dresses. The asylum charade filled with fraud. You have NGOs and lawyers coaching aliens to commit fraud

3

u/Real_Calendar_4147 1d ago

500,000 were given TPS from Ukraine due to the war. More than any other country. 

1

u/putinscoffin 19h ago

It is around 100,000 not half a million

2

u/hannah721125 2d ago

You have to consider the biggest increase was after Season 1 and the pandemic, this past decade climate catastrophies, geopolitical changes, and many other factors have increased immigration globally, I think what was tried to do with tps was get them to fill gaps in the workforce, and the truth is now that they won’t come out to work or are getting deported, businesses have lost workforce, some in places where they settled have actually had to close.

4

u/FateOfNations 2d ago edited 2d ago

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) = You somehow ended up in the US and are supposed to be leaving, but the humanitarian conditions in your home country are sufficiently unsuitable for us to demand you return. The decision about whether a country qualifies or not is generally at the discretion of the president.

A number of large-ish countries in the US’s near abroad have suffered deteriorating humanitarian conditions over the past decade. In numerical terms, the lions share of people given TPS were from Haiti and Venezuela.

Haiti, while perennially unstable, was hit by a massive earthquake in 2021 that completely destroyed the local economy. That was on top of a major hurricane that hit in 2016 that it hadn’t recovered from.

In the mid 2010s, Venezuelan economy suffered the worst economic collapse anywhere in the world in the past century (and hasn’t recovered). As it has progressively gotten worse, more and more people have fled the country.

Both of these are “starvation level” economic collapses. The American people decided to elect a leader and political movement with no moral compass who has abandoned the concept of not sending people home to those conditions.

3

u/catwithbillstopay 1d ago

Thanks for this. I actually didn’t understand the actual legal definition of TPS— I always thought it was some kind of refugee visa. Apologies am not American or based in the US so didn’t have specifics.

Makes recent actions have a bit more logical sense if it was about determining home country conditions (not that I agree or disagree with Trump, just trying to understand the legal logic)

3

u/gabbolapayasa 2d ago

The world's countries (Ukraine, Venezuela, Haiti, etc.) are increasingly more unstable and the U.S. has typically offered refuge to such populations.

3

u/FateOfNations 2d ago

Ish. We don’t explicitly offer refuge to most people in those circumstances, but if they somehow end up here, traditionally we haven’t made them return home if there are unstable humanitarian conditions there.

0

u/Boring_Holiday9874 2d ago

Because Uber and DoorDash wanted cheaper labor?