With fewer than ten days remaining before a deadline that will reshape the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has formally confirmed what many feared:
the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation of El Salvador and related benefits are set to terminate on September 9, 2026.
The agency's August 12 update marks the beginning of the end for one of the longest-running TPS designations in American immigration history — and the consequences extend far beyond the individuals who hold the status.
Background: A Quarter-Century of Protection
TPS for El Salvador is scheduled to terminate on September 9, 2026, ending a designation that has been in place since 2001.
El Salvador was originally designated for TPS following a series of devastating earthquakes, and the designation was extended repeatedly by successive administrations of both parties over the ensuing 25 years.
The most recent extension — an 18-month period running from March 10, 2025, through September 9, 2026 — was issued by then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas
on January 17, 2025, just days before leaving office, citing continued environmental conditions from earthquakes and severe weather events.
The current administration, under DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, declined to renew the designation.
Congressman Tom Suozzi (NY-03) sent two letters to the Secretary urging the administration to extend TPS for El Salvador
, but those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.
In a follow-up letter on July 3, 2026, Congressman Suozzi warned that terminating the designation could tear apart families and deport people who have been in this country legally for a generation.
The Supreme Court's Mullin v. Doe Decision
The termination follows the Supreme Court's June 25 ruling in Mullin v. Doe, which cleared the way for the administration to proceed with TPS terminations previously slowed by lower-court challenges.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court reversed the district courts' orders and remanded the cases for further proceedings.
The Court held that federal courts are barred by statute from reviewing nonconstitutional challenges to the Secretary of Homeland Security's decisions to designate, terminate, or extend TPS.
The Court simultaneously reversed the lower court injunctions that had blocked TPS terminations for Haiti and Syria, and the immediate legal effect was that those injunctions were lifted.
The Supreme Court's ruling impacts not only Syrian and Haitian TPS holders but all 1.3 million individuals from 17 countries designated for TPS.
For Salvadoran TPS holders, Mullin effectively eliminated the primary legal mechanism that had been used to block or delay prior TPS terminations through litigation.
What USCIS Is Doing Now
In its August 12 guidance,
USCIS confirmed it is sending notices to El Salvador TPS recipients who continue to be eligible for TPS but haven't received renewal EADs with category codes A-12 or C-19 and whose TPS-based EAD application is still pending, informing them that their expired TPS-based EADs are extended until September 9, 2026.
USCIS will send the notices by mail and electronically to those who have a myUSCIS account.
For employers, the compliance guidance is straightforward:
when completing Form I-9, employers are to enter September 9, 2026 as the expiration date of employment authorization along with a note in the "Additional Information" section.
Absent further litigation or a new designation, work authorization for El Salvador TPS holders lapses on that date.
Who Is Affected — And What's at Stake
The numbers underscore the scale of this policy change.
Some 170,000 Salvadoran TPS holders, many of whom have lived and worked in the United States for 25 years, could lose their protections when the designation expires.
Other estimates put the figure as high as 232,000.
Roughly 152,000 Salvadoran TPS holders are active in the labor force nationally,
concentrated most heavily in California, Texas, Maryland, New York, and Virginia, with substantial employment in construction, building and grounds maintenance, transportation, manufacturing, and food service.
The economic contributions are significant.
Salvadoran TPS holders contribute $5.4 billion annually to the economy, pay $1.5 billion in taxes, and are critical parts of the construction, transportation, manufacturing, and food service sectors.
Perhaps most critically,
more than 150,000 U.S.-citizen children have at least one parent with Salvadoran TPS.
If TPS is eliminated, these U.S.-citizen children would face serious risks — either separation from their parents or being forced to relocate to a country foreign to them.
If TPS expires and TPS holders are forced to leave the country, those who initially entered the U.S. without documentation prior to 2001 — most TPS holders — will be barred from returning or seeking permanent status for 10 years.
This so-called "10-year bar" effectively blocks the alternative immigration pathways that DHS Secretary Mullin has pointed to as options.
Congressional Action: The Dream and Promise Act
On the legislative front,
a discharge petition has been filed in the House of Representatives to force a vote on the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act, which would create earned pathways to lawful permanent residence for eligible Dreamers and recipients of TPS.
The petition requires 218 signatures to bring the bill to the floor.
The Act would allow individuals who were eligible for TPS as of January 1, 2017, and who have been in the United States for three years to apply for legal permanent residency.
However,
congressional action is more urgent than ever given that the administration is embarking on what advocates describe as the largest de-legalization effort in U.S. immigration history.
As of this writing, the discharge petition has not reached the 218-signature threshold.
Practical Steps for TPS Holders and Employers
With September 9 rapidly approaching, affected individuals and employers should take the following steps:
- TPS holders should immediately consult with a qualified immigration attorney to evaluate any alternative forms of relief, including family-based petitions, asylum claims, or other humanitarian protections.
- Check for USCIS notices.
- Employers should audit their workforce for employees holding Salvadoran TPS and prepare for potential reverification obligations after September 9.
- Monitor developments closely. The situation remains fluid, and last-minute litigation or executive action, while unlikely given the Mullin ruling, is not impossible.
Looking Ahead
The termination of El Salvador's TPS designation represents a seismic shift for one of the most deeply rooted immigrant communities in the United States.
Salvadorans are the longest-tenured TPS population in the country — first protected in 2001 — and for a quarter century they have raised U.S. citizen children and built homes in American communities.
The losses of protection and work authorization have already cost the U.S. economy more than $22 billion in economic contributions as TPS has been terminated for other countries, and these losses in turn drive up the cost of living for Americans, inflating prices for basic goods and services, housing, and health care.
Whether through congressional legislation, new litigation strategies, or executive action, the path forward for Salvadoran TPS holders remains profoundly uncertain. What is certain is that September 9 will arrive — and with it, a reckoning 25 years in the making.
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ClinchLaw continues to monitor this situation closely. If you are a Salvadoran TPS holder or an employer of TPS workers, we strongly encourage you to seek qualified legal counsel immediately. Contact our immigration team for a consultation.