Civil war

Temporary Protected Status designations for Ukraine, El Salvador, Sudan and Lebanon are set to expire between September and November, leaving thousands of immigrants nationwide, including nearly 1,600 in Iowa, uncertain about their futures. Haiti's TPS has already ended, and advocates say conditions in these countries remain dangerous, citing war in Ukraine and Sudan, unrest and due-process concerns in El Salvador, and State Department travel warnings for Haiti. Federal law typically requires a government review roughly 60 days before each deadline, but no official decisions have been announced for the upcoming expirations; without action, TPS automatically renews for six months.

Immigration attorneys say alternative legal pathways, such as employment-based visas, are costly and inaccessible to most TPS holders. A June Supreme Court ruling also limited lower courts' ability to review TPS termination decisions. The impact is already visible in workplaces like an Iowa meatpacking plant that lost dozens of workers after Haiti's status ended. Advocates warn that ending TPS threatens to separate long-settled families and disrupt local economies and communities built over decades.