Latest Biden land mine for Trump is extending legal status for nearly one million migrants, illegals until 2026

WASHINGTON, DC- January 20 cannot come soon enough. On his way out the door, the demented dunderhead Joe Biden continues to leave landmines intended to undermine the incoming Trump administration. For anyone bloviating about a “peaceful transfer of power,” Biden is engaging in anything but. 

Biden’s latest hit is an announcement made Friday that will permit nearly one million legal migrants and illegal aliens from countries like Sudan, Ukraine, El Salvador, and Venezuela–home to one of the most violent criminal gangs in the U.S, Tren de Aragua–to stay in the United States at least into 2026, The New York Post reports. 

The Department of Homeland Security announced that it will extend by 18 months so-called “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) for 1,900 Sudanese, 103,700 Ukrainian, 232,000 Salvadoran, and 600,000 Venezuelan migrants and illegal aliens. Approximately 937,600 eligible legal migrants and illegal aliens will be allowed to remain in the US, although the end date varies by country. Those protections were poised to end later this year. 

Initially signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, TPS gives work permits to illegals from 16 different countries who want to remain in the U.S. to suck off the government teat instead of returning to their home countries marred by armed conflict, political instability, or other allegedly threatening conditions. 

President-elect Trump mothballed the program during his first term, resulting in approximately 400,000 illegals getting booted from the country until the program ran into legal roadblocks. Trump has vowed to continue the program. 

“We’re going to stop doing mass grants of Temporary Protected Status,” Vice President-elect JD Vance said in October. 

Some believe if Trump attempts to follow through on his campaign pledge, which was a priority for those who voted for him, he will face a myriad of legal roadblocks. 

“Trump can’t ignore what Congress wrote into law in 1990,” Cornell Law School professor Steve Yale-Loehr told the New York Times. That suggests that only Congress can alter or undo TPS permanently; however, with control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, that may not be a bridge too far. 

The Post wrote that only those already enrolled in the program and who remain eligible can reapply and stay in the U.S. 

According to the DHS announcement, illegal aliens from Sudan and Ukraine, “with or without lawful immigration status,” must have been “continuously residing in the United States “since at least August 16, 2023.” 

The inclusion of Venezuela in the program is genuinely mind-boggling, primarily since the nation emptied its prisons of Tren de Aragua gang members, who have wreaked havoc nationwide in states such as California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin, a DHS memo previously highlighted by The Post shows. 

According to the DHS, however, legal migrants and illegal aliens must undergo “rigorous national security and public safety vetting” when applying or re-registering for the program. 

“If any individual is identified as posing a threat, they may be detained, removed, or referred to other federal agencies for further investigation or prosecution as appropriate,” the department wrote. “Individuals are barred from TPS if they have been convicted of any felony or two misdemeanors.” [emphasis added] Key word is convicted. 

Last year, 309,000 Haitians had their status extended for 18 months, giving them sanctuary in the U.S. until February 2026. 

Countries currently included in the program are people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen. 

“These designations are rooted in careful review and interagency collaboration to ensure those affected by environmental disasters and instability are given the protections they need while continuing to contribute meaningfully to our communities,” outgoing (thank God) DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. 

If Mayorkas is telling the truth, it will be the first time he has done so in four years.