Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has determined it is safe for Yemenis to return to their home country despite the ongoing conflict.
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Published February 14, 2026
The U.S. government has ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Yemen and ordered more than 1,000 Yemeni refugees and asylum seekers living in the country to leave the country within 60 days or face arrest and deportation.
Friday’s action comes as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive immigration crackdown, affecting people fleeing dangerous lives in war-torn countries.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Friday that she is ending TPS for approximately 1,400 Yemeni nationals who have enjoyed legal status since September 2015 due to the country’s armed conflict.
“After reviewing the domestic situation and consulting with the appropriate government agencies in the United States, we have determined that Yemen no longer meets the law’s requirements for Temporary Protected Status,” Noem said in a statement.
“Allowing TPS Yemeni beneficiaries to temporarily reside in the United States is contrary to our national interests,” she said, describing the revocation as an act that “puts America first.”
Despite Noem’s determination, Yemen remains one of the world’s poorest countries and torn by years of conflict.
The State Department currently advises against traveling to Yemen due to “terrorism, insurgency, crime, health risks, kidnapping, and landmines.”
TPS allows some people in the United States to live and work in the country if war, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances make it dangerous to return to their home country.
Although this protection is technically temporary, presidents have historically renewed TPS status for refugees and asylum seekers rather than revoking them or leaving them undocumented.
TPS for Yemen was last extended in 2024 and was scheduled to expire on March 3 this year.
The statement said Yemeni beneficiaries with no other legal basis to remain in the United States have 60 days to voluntarily leave or face arrest, and said those who “voluntarily leave” would be offered free airfare and a $2,600 “departure bonus.”
Since taking office last year, Trump has disenfranchised Venezuelans, Hondurans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Somalis, Ukrainians and thousands of others.
Since returning to power, the Trump administration has continued to expand travel restrictions, banning citizens from 19 countries from entering the United States, primarily Muslim-majority countries and African countries, including Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan.
Nationals of a further 29 countries, including Nigeria and Senegal, are also subject to partial entry bans.
