A newly revealed Biden White House memo, obtained by Sen. Eric Schmitt, shows the administration considered a major expansion of Temporary Protected Status in its final days. According to the description of the document, the plan could have applied TPS protections to more than 3.1 million noncitizens.
The disclosure is drawing attention because it suggests the administration was weighing a sweeping immigration move just before leaving office. Temporary Protected Status is used to allow certain foreign nationals to remain in the United States for a limited period under federal protection, and any broad expansion would have carried significant policy and political implications.
Schmitt and other critics are framing the memo as evidence that the outgoing administration was prepared to deepen already intense debates over immigration policy. They argue that extending TPS on that scale would have added pressure to an immigration system that was already a central issue for the incoming Trump administration.
The memo does not, on its own, show that the plan was ultimately carried out, but it offers a window into late-stage White House thinking on immigration. Its release is likely to fuel renewed scrutiny of how the Biden administration approached executive immigration actions in its final stretch.
