A few days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden has renewed temporary deportation relief for 900,000 immigrants from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the extension on Friday, extending protection for immigrants from listed countries under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programme for an additional 18 months. This comes with work permit eligibility for those affected.

TPS offers relief to individuals from countries that have experienced disasters, conflicts, or other exceptional circumstances.

The Biden-led government has significantly expanded TPS, which now provides protection to over one million people from 17 nations since 2021.

The announced temporary deportation relief comes as a move aimed at delaying any potential action by Mr Trump, who, during his first term in the White House, attempted to terminate TPS but was unsuccessful.

Before the November election, Mr Trump focused his campaign on a massive deportation of immigrants and since emerging as president-elect, he has made several appointments to carry out his plans for massive deportation of illegal immigrants from the U.S.

In addition to appointing Tom Homan as his “border czar,” Mr Trump named two officials—Rodney S. Scott and Caleb Vitello—to spearhead his proposed overhaul of the U.S. immigration system, which would focus on large-scale deportations.

Mr Scott, a veteran border official who served as the Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol during Trump’s first term, has been appointed to lead Customs and Border Protection. Mr Vitello, a longtime official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has been named as the agency’s acting head.