WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday announced temporary legal status for Lebanese citizens already in the United States, which will likely be pleasant some Arab votersalso in the battleground state of Michigan.
The announcement, along with an earlier offer in July, brings the number of Lebanese who will be able to stay in the country and qualify for a work permit to about 11,000, the Ministry of Homeland Security said. The offer is for people who are already in the US on Wednesday and is valid for a period of 18 months.
The temporary protected status will allow Lebanese citizens to remain “while the United States engages in discussions to achieve a diplomatic solution for lasting stability and security at the Israel-Lebanon border,” Homeland Security said in a statement. They must have been in the United States on Wednesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have had to deal with this conflict in Lebanon and across the Middle East in the final weeks of their White House campaign.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters have clashed since October 8, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets across the border in support of its ally. Hamas in Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israel has carried out a major aerial bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion, which it says aims to push Hezbollah back from the border and allow displaced residents of northern Israel to return.
Assad I. Turfe, deputy director of Wayne County, Michigan, said TPS “will provide critical support to Lebanese nationals, help reunite families here in America and provide relief from the challenges caused by the conflict.”
Nearly 900,000 people were covered by TPS at the end of March, according to the Congressional Research Service. The 1990 law provides legal status to people already in the United States from countries affected by natural disasters or civil war.
In addition, some Palestinians, Lebanese, Liberians, and Hong Kong residents living in the United States are covered by a similar program called Deferred Enforcement Departure, which is administered under the authority of the president rather than the Department of Homeland Security.