WASHINGTON \u2014 On Friday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be terminated for Syrian nationals enrolled in the program, effective Nov. 21, 2025.
Syrians have been enrolled in the TPS program \u2014 part of the Immigration Act of 1990 passed by Congress \u2014 since 2012, during the Obama administration. More than 6,000 Syrian nationals are currently enrolled.
The Secretary of Homeland Security has the power to designate a foreign country as TPS eligible if \u201cconditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately\u201d, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website. The decision also follows the Trump administration’s revocation of TPS status for Venezuelan nationals, which was terminated last April.
\u201cThis is what restoring sanity to America\u2019s immigration system looks like,\u201d Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary of public affairs, said. \u201cConditions in Syria no longer prevent [Syrians] from returning home. Syria has been a hotbed of terrorism and extremism for nearly two decades, and it is contrary to our national interest to allow Syrians to remain in our country. TPS is meant to be temporary.\u201d
The news release, which was published on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website on Sept. 19, noted that Syrians who choose to deport voluntarily within 60 days would be given a \u201ccomplimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.\u201d
The move follows a comprehensive lifting of U.S. economic sanctions against Syria via executive order last June, following the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad after 24 years in power.
The announcement quickly garnered the attention of major U.S. and international media outlets.
Responses in Syria have varied. According to Anagha Subash Nair, a multimedia journalist based in Damascus, Syria who covers Syrian and Lebanese politics, both gratitude and resentment have been cornerstone to Syrians\u2019 relationship to the U.S. and the West.\u201cThere\u2019s a group of them who feel betrayed because the West interfered during the Assad regime, but didn\u2019t do much \u2026 to militarily intervene,\u201d she said. She also mentioned that the U.S. financial and military support for Israel has contributed to negative images of the West.
\u201c[Others] feel very grateful to the West and Trump because he lifted the sanctions, at least on paper,\u201d she added.
Nair said that while this complex sentiment remains, emigration to the West is still desirable for most Syrians.
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of nuance there,\u201d she said. \u201cUltimately, life in the West is of better quality, [and] naturalizing into a Western country does give you more mobility. There are [many] factors to take into consideration,\u201d she added.
Rose Habib, a Syrian undergraduate on an F1 visa attending Princeton University, echoed Nair\u2019s assessment that the topic remains complex for many Syrians. Habib personally knew of two friends who were enrolled in the TPS program.
\u201cGrowing up, if anyone could go to the U.S., they definitely would do it,\u201d she said. \u201cAt the same time, [if they can\u2019t,] they just lived with that. There are definitely more things that are on people\u2019s minds [than] American policy,\u201d she said.
Habib, also a member of the Alawite ethnoreligious minority from Latakia, Syria, emphasized that Syrian sentiments on immigration are difficult to generalize precisely because of the nation\u2019s volatile political history and diverse ethnic composition.
\u201cWhen you say \u2018Syrians\u2019, there are many different ethnicities: Arabs, Kurds, whatever,\u201d she said. \u201cBefore the fall of the Assad regime, everyone wanted to leave \u2026 now, [it\u2019s more so] the minorities who are trying to leave.\u201d
Habib mentioned the series of massacres against Alawite civilians that occurred last March, where armed remnants of the former Assad regime and Syrian National Army (SNA) militia killed more than 1,000 civilians in Western Syria. While Habib acknowledged that there is a group of Syrians who feel enthusiastic about settling back home, she says there still remains a large demand for emigrating to the West, especially from those who have experienced a threat of violence.
\u201cEveryone I know who is part of a community that\u2019s in danger, or was in danger for the past few months, [still] wants to leave [Syria],\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want anything to do with the [new] government.\u201d<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON \u2014 On Friday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be terminated for Syrian nationals enrolled in the program, effective Nov. 21, 2025. Syrians have been enrolled in the TPS program \u2014 part of the Immigration Act of 1990 passed by Congress \u2014 since 2012, during<\/p>\n