Biden Extends ‘Temporary’ Amnesty to Nearly 300 South Sudanese in U.S.

President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the extension and redesignation of temporary amnesty status for nearly 300 nationals of South Sudan in the United States who would otherwise be illegal aliens.

On Tuesday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for close to 300 South Sudanese nationals so they can remain in the U.S. until at least May 2025.

Though the program was intended to be temporary, South Sudan was first designated for TPS in 2011 by then-President Obama — keeping about 130 South Sudanese in the U.S. who may otherwise have returned to their country.

“Through the extension and redesignation of South Sudan for Temporary Protected Status, the United States will continue to offer safety and protection to South Sudanese nationals who may not be able to return to their country due to the ongoing armed conflict and humanitarian crisis,” Mayorkas said in a statement.

The extension and redesignation will allow roughly 130 South Sudanese to keep TPS for an additional 18 months and another 140 South Sudanese who have been physically residing in the U.S. since November of this year to begin filing applications for TPS.

The announcement comes less than a month after Mayorkas announced that the Biden administration would extend TPS for nearly 4,000 Sudanese nationals as well. In total, close to 400,000 foreign nationals remain in the U.S. on TPS.

TPS was first created under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 (INA) and prevents federal immigration officials from deporting those from countries that the federal government has designated as experiencing famine, war, or natural disasters.

Since the Clinton administration, TPS has been transformed into a de facto amnesty program as the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and now Biden administrations have continuously renewed the program for a variety of countries.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.