ADEN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 4,000 Yemenis will be affected by a U.S. decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Yemenis in the United States, said a Yemeni official on Friday evening.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced on Friday that President Donald Trump's administration has terminated TPS for Yemen.
"After reviewing country conditions and consulting with the appropriate U.S. government agencies, I determined that Yemen no longer meets the statutory requirements for its TPS designation," she said.
"The decision was not surprising in light of the U.S. administration's policy of deporting immigrants living in the United States, whether legal or illegal," Mustafa Ahmad Noman, Yemen's deputy minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, told Xinhua.
Those affected by the decision "can pursue legal avenues, as other Arab and non-Arab communities have done and succeeded in delaying it," he said, adding that the Yemeni embassy in Washington continues its contacts and cooperation to help those covered by the decision.
The United States designated Yemen for TPS in September 2015 based on the existence of an ongoing armed conflict, citing concerns that returning Yemenis would pose a serious threat to their personal safety due to the conflict.
"Allowing TPS beneficiaries from Yemen to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interest," Noem said, noting that the TPS program was designed to be temporary.
She said TPS beneficiaries from Yemen who have no other legal basis to remain in the United States will have 60 days to voluntarily depart and after the termination decision takes effect, her department may detain and deport any Yemeni citizen without legal status once their TPS protection ends. ■
