The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) amnesty for Ethiopian nationals living in the United States.
In a press release on Friday, the DHS clarified that TPS designations “are time-limited” and are not meant to be used as a “ticket to permanent residency.” Ethiopian nationals who have no “lawful basis” for staying in the U.S. were given “60 days to voluntarily depart” from the country.
“Temporary Protected Status designations are time-limited and were never meant to be a ticket to permanent residency,” a spokesperson from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said. “Conditions in Ethiopia no longer pose a serious threat to the person safety of returning Ethiopian nationals. Since the situation no longer meets the statutory requirements for a TPS designation, Secretary Noem is terminating this designation to restore integrity in our immigration system.”
Per the press release:
Ethiopian nationals with no other lawful basis for remaining in the United States have 60 days to voluntarily depart the United States. We encourage aliens leaving the United States to use the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP Home Mobile App to report their departure from the United States. This is a safe, secure way to self-deport that includes a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.
After Feb. 13, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security may arrest and deport any Ethiopian national without status after their TPS has been terminated. If an alien forces DHS to arrest and remove them, they may never be allowed to return to the United States.
Breitbart News’s John Binder reported in April 2024, that under the Biden administration, DHS redesignated and extending TPS amnesty for “more than 15,000 Ethiopian nationals” in the U.S.
At the time, the Biden administration was found to have increased the number of foreign nationals in the U.S. who were either eligible or receiving TPS amnesty, to roughly 1.2 million.
President Donald Trump’s DHS has also announced that it would be ending TPS for thousands of Burmese, Honduran, Venezuelan, and Haitian nationals, among others, living in the U.S.
