Temporary Protected Status (TPS), enough for refugees of Ukraine?
An important decision was taken on March 3, 2022, fortifying the fate of the desolated Ukraine refugees in the United States.
As proclaimed by the Department of Homeland Security, Ukraine will be given access to Temporary Protected Status, aka TPS, for a period of 18 months to immigrants who had been inhabiting the country before March 1, 2022.
The ones deciding to move to the country post-March one will not be granted the status.
The Temporary Protected Status focuses on certain points of concern.
- It has a historical reputation of being used as a tool of remedy for migrants who are unable to return to their native country safely.
- It allows immigrants to stay, work and travel without the probability of deportation.
- It does not provide permanent US citizenship to the immigrants, but the beneficiaries can apply for permanent residency or citizenship.
- The United States has extended the grant of TPS to several other countries that are suffering from national conflict.
Although the status has been historically appreciated and has served as a relief to many such aggrieved individuals, the Temporary Protected Status does not solve the issue for every immigrant unanimously.
- TPS is granted solely to immigrants who have catered to the goodwill of the States and have been residing in the country already.
- The process of granting the status takes a long duration which might not act in favor of the ones desperate for refuge and safety.
- Owing to the temporary intent of the TPS, it becomes a complicated affair to escort their loved ones who are stuck in their concerned country facing conflict while the processing goes on.
- Due to the wait and the limitation of duration, the approval for the status of protection is only given to some while many of them are denied.
- To be granted the status, it requires documents of their nationality, employment, education, etc., from the applicants. But as the applicants are usually in an aggrieved situation and incidentally might not bear the requisite documents with themselves. Thereby making them unsuitable for the status even when they most require it.
- If, by unfortunate circumstances, the TPS is removed from the country the immigrants hail from, they will return to being unprotected, which might also result in them having to leave their place of refuge or the US in this case.
Therefore the Biden administration should consider the factors at the earliest to ensure more secure protection for the victims of national conflict and the global crime of war.
Special situations call for extraordinary measures, and it can be fairly well esteemed that the current situation of the Ukraine – Russia tension is a global threat, thereby certainly rare. So there should be more protected measures to provide swift and immediate solutions for the innocent people in peril.
