More than 105,000 Ukrainians and Sudanese nationals living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status were bracing to lose their deportation shields and work permits at midnight Monday. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security told them late Sunday they could keep both — without saying for how long.

DHS confirmed to CBS News that Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders "retain protection" past the Oct. 19 cutoff, adding only that a "final decision" would be made "at the appropriate time." No termination notice, extension order, or new expiration date has been published in the Federal Register.

A pattern of deadline-day limbo

It is the same move DHS made in September, when roughly 200,000 Salvadorans were left in similar legal limbo after their TPS designation lapsed without a formal ruling. According to The Washington Sun, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has issued no official termination decision for either Ukraine or Sudan, despite a statutory requirement that such a call be made at least 60 days before a designation expires — a deadline that passed in late August.

Roughly 103,700 Ukrainians and about 1,900 Sudanese nationals are enrolled in the programs, based on 2025 re-registration figures. Ukraine was granted TPS in 2022 after Russia's invasion; Sudan has held the designation for nearly 30 years amid war, famine and mass displacement. Congress created the TPS program in 1990 to shield immigrants from countries too dangerous to return to.

"The reality is that it is simply not safe for them to return to Ukraine."

That warning came last month from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, one of 31 senators — Republicans and Democrats — who signed a letter urging Secretary Mullin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to grant Ukrainians an 18-month extension. The Trump administration, with Supreme Court backing, has otherwise moved aggressively to wind down TPS protections for more than a dozen countries over the past year and a half, including ending the designation for Haitians this past July.

For now, Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders can keep working and remain shielded from removal. But with no paperwork trail backing up DHS's verbal assurance, immigration attorneys and employers alike are left relying on a one-line statement to a reporter rather than anything they can file, cite or rely on in court.