By African Communities Together
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, African Communities Together along with 62 other organizations issued a letter to the administration urging the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Secretary Kristi Noem to extend and redesignate South Sudan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. The current designation is set to expire on May 3, 2025, yet, escalating armed conflict, widespread mass displacement, devastating drought and climate shocks, and severe food insecurity continue to threaten millions of lives.
Extending and redesignating TPS would provide relief to South Sudanese nationals currently living in the U.S., shielding them from deportation and allowing them to work legally. By statute, the Secretary of Homeland Security must decide whether to extend and redesignate TPS for South Sudan by March 4, 2025.
“South Sudanese TPS beneficiaries have made the United States their home, fleeing severe conflict and crises in their home country,” said Nils Kinuani, Federal Policy Manager at African Communities Together. “Previous decisions to extend and redesignate, have ensured that people continue to be integral members of our community and are protected from deportation.”
TPS is a designation that provides life-saving protection to non-citizens in the United States, including undocumented immigrants, who cannot safely return to their home country. It provides essential benefits including work authorization and protection from deportation. Both the Biden and Trump Administrations have previously extended Temporary Protected Status for South Sudan, based on ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions.
African Communities Together is an organization of African immigrants fighting for civil rights, opportunity, and a better life for African families in the U.S. and worldwide. ACT connects African immigrants to critical services, helps Africans develop as leaders, and organizes African immigrant communities on the issues that matter.
