SILVER SPRING, Maryland — The Department of Homeland Security announced maximum Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, protection for Yemenis in the United States on July 6, 2021. The 18-month extension and redesignation will safeguard approximately 2,200 people from what the United Nations has called “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” with approximately 24.1 million people, or 80 percent of Yemen’s population, in need of humanitarian aid and protection.

“Protecting Yemenis in the U.S. from the devastating conditions in Yemen is a legal and moral duty and we applaud Secretary Mayorkas for this decision to grant maximum TPS protection,” said Anna Gallagher, CLINIC’s executive director. “As a blanket protection for nationals of an entire country, TPS plays a unique and important role in our humanitarian immigration system. We call on the Biden administration to use it broadly and boldly to save lives and keep families together and stabilized.”

CLINIC commends the leadership and work of the Yemeni community in the United States in securing the 18-month extension and redesignation of TPS for Yemen. CLINIC joined more than one hundred organizations in a letter to the administration, calling for this decision.

“Now that we have the decision, we call on the administration to implement it in a way that ensures access and protection for all eligible Yemenis,” said Lisa Parisio, CLINIC’s director of advocacy. “This includes immediately opening the registration process through publication in the Federal Register and launching a robust, culturally-competent government outreach plan to get information to the community. Without a strategic and well-resourced implementation, a life-saving decision like this one can turn into an empty promise.”

CLINIC continues to call on the administration to use its TPS authority broadly and boldly, including granting an 18-month extension and redesignation of TPS for Somalia, a decision due by July 19, as well as new TPS designations for Mauritania and Cameroon.