On September 9, 2026, the Trump administration said Salvadorans with Temporary Protected Status would “retain protection” for now, and that a further announcement on El Salvador’s TPS designation would come later. The move affects an estimated 200,000 Salvadorans living in the United States and keeps their existing protections and work authorization active in the interim.
- DHS said the decision on El Salvador’s TPS designation will be made at a later date, after the program’s scheduled end date of September 9, 2026 arrived.
- USCIS said on August 12, 2026 that it was mailing notices to eligible Salvadoran TPS recipients whose A12 or C19 work permits expired before September 9, 2026, extending those permits until September 9, 2026.
- USCIS’s Form I-9 guidance, last updated September 3, 2026, tells employers to enter September 9, 2026 as the expiration date. As of September 10, AILA said SAVE and E-Verify had not published updated dates for the period after September 9.
- An earlier version of this article said Salvadoran TPS work authorization and removal protection ended on September 9, 2026. That was wrong.
- The TPS continuation period ended on that date, but DHS has not published a termination notice, and USCIS states that Salvadorans under TPS retain protection, including work authorization, until an announcement is made.
- Corrected September 10, 2026. If you stopped working or were told your work permit had lapsed because of this article, please check USCIS’s El Salvador TPS page and speak with an immigration attorney.
- El Salvador’s TPS reached its scheduled September 9, 2026 end date with no DHS extension or termination notice; about 200,000 people are affected.
- USCIS says Salvadorans under TPS retain protection, including work authorization, until DHS announces a decision.
- The Supreme Court’s June 25, 2026 ruling narrowed challenges to TPS terminations under Mullin v. Doe.
Salvadoran Temporary Protected Status reached its scheduled end date on September 9, 2026 without a DHS decision, a date affecting about 200,000 people, according to the Associated Press. USCIS states that Salvadorans present in the United States under TPS keep their work authorization and protection from removal until an announcement is made. The Department of Homeland Security had not announced a new extension as of September 8–9, 2026.
The deadline was set for September 9, 2026. The administration has made ending temporary protections for multiple countries part of a broader deportation campaign.
The affected population includes Salvadorans whose lawful ability to work and protection from removal depend solely on the designation. Others may have separate immigration protections.
Ending a TPS designation requires DHS to publish a termination notice in the Federal Register. No such notice for El Salvador has been published. USCIS’s El Salvador TPS page carries an alert stating that an announcement “will be made at the appropriate time” and that, until then, Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS “retain protection including work authorization.” Employers should not treat Salvadoran TPS-based work authorization as having lapsed on September 9.
The TPS statute also says that if DHS does not decide in time, the designation “is extended for an additional period of 6 months,” which would run to about March 9, 2027. DHS has not confirmed that date.
If DHS does announce a termination, the consequences for people whose only protection is TPS would be significant, and the wind-down period set by that notice would govern when work authorization actually ends. That has not happened yet.
A Supreme Court ruling narrowed the path for challenges to TPS decisions
The deadline came after a Supreme Court decision that narrowed challenges to the administration’s TPS actions. In Mullin v. Doe, decided June 25, 2026, the court held that the TPS statute bars judicial review of nonconstitutional challenges to designations, extensions or terminations.
That holding concerns challenges to the government’s TPS decisions. It does not determine whether an individual has a separate path to remain in the United States.
The administration’s policy reaches beyond El Salvador. The administration has ended TPS for countries including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Burma and South Sudan. DHS has not said whether El Salvador will follow.
A person’s next step depends on protection beyond TPS
The impact differs according to each person’s immigration record. A person with another status, a pending asylum case or another independent protection may be in a different legal position from someone whose only protection is TPS.
| Immigration circumstance | Potential issue if TPS is terminated |
|---|---|
| TPS is the person’s only protection | Work authorization and protection from removal may end |
| Another immigration status exists | The separate status may affect the person’s ability to remain and work |
| A pending asylum case exists | The pending case may provide a different basis for protection, depending on its posture |
| Another independent protection exists | The person’s rights may differ from those of a TPS-only beneficiary |
Coverage from Massachusetts and other states has highlighted possible detention, deportation and job loss after the deadline. The risks depend on the person’s filings, current status and any enforcement action.
A TPS beneficiary should not assume that a pending matter automatically preserves every benefit. The key question is whether another valid status or pending case exists apart from TPS, and how that matter affects work authorization and removal exposure.
As of September 10, 2026, DHS had announced neither an extension nor a termination, and no termination notice appears in the Federal Register. USCIS continues to advise that TPS protection and work authorization remain in place pending that announcement. For the latest on the missing decision, see our explainer El Salvador TPS after September 9: what we know.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific case.
