Bombshell memo shows Biden planned to leave Trump with even more massive immigration crisis - Fox News

What the report says

Fox News reported that Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, obtained a Biden White House memo from the administration’s final days that discussed possible Temporary Protected Status actions affecting more than 3.1 million noncitizens. TPS is a U.S. immigration protection for people from countries facing conditions such as conflict, disasters or other crises, allowing eligible nationals to live and work temporarily in the United States.

According to Fox, the memo described requests from lawmakers and outside stakeholders for new or expanded TPS designations before President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. A chart cited in the report estimated potential eligibility for about 1.5 million Guatemalans, 600,000 Ecuadorians, 464,000 Nicaraguans, 455,000 Venezuelans and smaller groups from Ukraine, Sudan and Afghanistan. The article said the memo also referred to earlier Biden TPS actions for groups including Afghans, Cameroonians, Ethiopians, Ukrainians, Venezuelans and Haitians.

Schmitt, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, said he obtained the document from Archivist of the United States Edward Forst. He accused Biden advisers of considering TPS as a shield against Trump’s deportation plans; Fox reported that it sought additional comment from Biden, a former Biden official and Schmitt. The report says the broader proposals were not fully carried out, though Schmitt argued a later Biden extension covering nearly 1 million people showed the memo had policy consequences.

The issue matters because TPS has been a recurring legal and political flashpoint. Fox noted that the memo referenced court rulings that blocked some Trump-era attempts to end TPS, and the article also cited a recent 6-3 Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to terminate TPS for Haitian and Syrian migrants.