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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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About 3,000 Yemeni immigrants are being told to self-deport from the United States after the Trump administration moved to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the country, despite ongoing tensions in the Middle East nation.
In an announcement on Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that TPS for Yemenis would end within 60 days. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said conditions in the country had improved enough that immigrants could return home.
That viewpoint has been used to justify ending at least two dozen TPS designations over the past year for countries including Haiti, Venezuela, and Afghanistan.
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Why It Matters
The State Department currently designates Yemen as a Level 4 - Do Not Travel country, citing ongoing violent crime, civil unrest and the risk of terrorism**.** Similar statuses have been applied to other countries that the Trump administration has sought to revoke TPS for, with those attempts facing legal challenges that have had mixed results. Some immigrants have been allowed to stay in the U.S., for now, while other courts have backed the government's view that TPS is, by its nature, temporary.
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What To Know
Yemen was first granted TPS in 2015 due to the ongoing armed conflict in the country. Immigrants were allowed to apply for the status due to fears they would be in danger if they returned to their home country, and the status was extended six times from 2017 through 2024.
The last extension, from Noem's predecessor Alejandro Mayorkas, maintained that conditions in Yemen were unsafe for at least 2,300 individuals who had claimed TPS.
Unrest continues in the country, with the United Nations Refugee Agency estimating more than 4.5 million Yemenis have been internally displaced over the past decade, while 18.2 million are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
Noem said Friday that the U.S. had determined conditions had improved enough to end TPS, and encouraged Yemenis with no other legal basis to remain in the country to self-deport.
Do Haiti, Honduras, and Ethiopia Still Have TPS?
The Trump administration has moved to end TPS for multiple countries over the past year, often leading to legal battles.
For some 350,000 Haitians, their status remains in effect for now following a court order earlier this month—something DHS has promised to challenge.
A few days later, on February 9, a federal appeals court allowed DHS to terminate TPS for three countries: Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, overturning a previous ban.
The administration has also moved to end TPS for Ethiopia, with the status set to end on Friday.
What People Are Saying
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release: “Allowing TPS Yemen beneficiaries to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interest. TPS was designed to be temporary, and this administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent. We are prioritizing our national security interests and putting America first.”
What Happens Next
Yemeni TPS holders are being encouraged to use the CBP Home app to self-deport. It was not immediately clear if a legal challenge would follow.
Update 2/13/26, 12:16 ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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