The Biden administration on Friday extended temporary humanitarian protection for about 230,000 Salvadorans and 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, protecting those groups from a new Trump administration that has vowed to deport them.

The decision came in the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency after immigration advocates and lawmakers called on the Department of Homeland Security to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which is intended to protect immigrants from deportation to countries affected by disasters or conflict.

The DHS cited environmental conditions in El Salvador — which has recently been hit by a series of extreme weather events — that are “preventing individuals from returning to the country.” The agency expanded protections for Venezuelans “due to the severe humanitarian emergency that the country continues to face due to political and economic crises,” the ministry said.

The announcement came as Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third term in Caracas, despite being widely condemned at home and abroad since taking office in 2013 for allegedly engineering a fraudulent election victory and plunging the country into an increasingly repressive one direction.

The US announced a $65 million bounty for Maduro’s arrest and the arrest of two close allies on international drug trafficking allegations, rejecting Maduro’s claim to the presidency.

Approximately one million immigrants from 17 countries are protected by TPS, including people from Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon. Among the biggest beneficiaries are Salvadorans, who won TPS in 2001 after earthquakes rocked the Central American country.

The TPS designation gives people the legal authority to remain in the country, but does not provide a long-term path to citizenship. People with TPS rely on the government to renew their status when it expires.

Donald Trump and JD Vance, his vice president-elect, proposed limiting the use of TPS and temporary status policies during the campaign as they pursued their campaign promise of mass deportations. During his first term, Trump ended the TPS for El Salvador, but the process was adjourned in court.

Advocates have increased pressure on Biden to demand TPS extensions for those who already have it and to protect people from some other countries, including Guatemala and Ecuador.

“This extension is just a small victory,” said Felipe Arnoldo Díaz, an activist with the National TPS Alliance. “Our biggest concern is that after El Salvador, there are countries whose TPS is about to expire and will be left out, such as Venezuela, Nepal, Sudan, Nicaragua and Honduras.”

In March 2022, gangs in El Salvador killed 62 people in a matter of hours, prompting Congress to authorize a “state of emergency” for President Nayib Bukele to crack down, suspend some constitutional rights and give the police more powers. Since then, more than 83,000 people have been arrested, most of them detained without due process.

El Salvador ended 2024 with a record low of 114 murders. In 2015, there were 6,656 murders in El Salvador, making it one of the deadliest countries in the world.

For José Palma, a 48-year-old Salvadoran who has lived in the United States since 1998, the extension means he can continue to work legally in Houston. He is the only one in his family with temporary status; His four children were born in the United States and are citizens, and his wife is a permanent resident. If TPS had not been extended, he could have been deported.

“It gives me peace of mind and a breath of fresh air. That’s 18 more months of protection,” Palma said. “It gives me stability.”

Palma works as an organizer for a day laborer organization and sends home about $400 a month to support his 73-year-old mother.

The Associated Press contributed reporting