Average TPS holder: 20 years in US
Despite being called 'temporary,' the average Temporary Protected Status holder in the United States has been in the country for 20 years.
Snapshot · The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2454 - Trump WIN: SCOTUS Says Send Them Home
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Jun 26, 2026
Where this was said
TPS Explained: How a Temporary Program Became Permanent Amnesty
At 20:40 · chapter starts 18:50
Created in the Immigration Act of 1990 to give temporary refuge to people already in the US when their home country became catastrophically dangerous, TPS started with one designated country: El Salvador. Over 36 years, the list grew to 17 countries, and the average TPS holder has now been in the US for two decades. Shapiro argues that this wasn't accident but strategy: the Obama and Biden administrations opened the borders, allowed mass illegal entry, then labeled the migrants' home countries 'too dangerous' under TPS, effectively converting illegal immigrants into people who couldn't legally be deported. The Trump administration's response is to declare those countries no longer dangerous for deportation purposes — using the same broad executive discretion the law grants. Republicans focus on 'temporary'; Democrats focus on 'protected.'
How Democrats Turned TPS Into a Permanent Amnesty Tool
Temporary Protected Status was created in 1990 for one country, El Salvador. Through deliberate open-border policies under Obama and Biden, it became a backdoor amnesty mechanism covering 17 countries and hundreds of thousands of migrants who've been in the US for an average of 20 years. The word 'temporary' was stripped of all meaning.
TPS program in place since 1990
The Temporary Protected Status program was created by the Immigration Act of 1990, making it over three decades old and far outlasting its intended temporary scope.
17 countries on TPS list
Originally only El Salvador was designated by Congress as too dangerous for deportation under TPS in 1990; that list has since grown to 17 countries.
Haiti Is a Hellhole — And the Law Says Presidents Can Act on That
Haiti has 5,500 murders a year, rampant sex trafficking, and gang rule — Trump called it a 'bleep-hole country.' The Supreme Court says the president can terminate Haiti's TPS designation without judicial review because the law explicitly bars it. The Trump administration's race-neutral rationale: they're ending every TPS renewal they encounter.
5,500 murders in Haiti in one year
Haiti recorded 5,500 murders in a single year, making it the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere by a wide margin, according to Ben Shapiro.
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