WASHINGTON (CN) — The Department of Homeland Security is extending immigration protections for Burmese immigrants, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Friday. The Temporary Protected Status for Myanmar will be extended for 18 months from May 26 to Nov. 25, 2025.
Under protected status people can legally live and work in the U.S. if they cannot return to their home countries for a variety of reasons, such as natural disasters or war.
Myanmar's military, called the Tatmadaw, has been in power since 1962. U.S. policy is to call the country Burma, the name it formally shed over 30 years ago after the ruling junta brutally suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
“Burma’s democratically elected civilian government was overthrown in a military coup on February 1, 2021, giving rise to further widespread violence that continues to put individuals in Burma at significant risk,” Homeland Security said in a statement. “Burma also continues to face challenges in the provision of food, access to health care, and economic stability.”
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday’s action, officially a redesignation of Myanmar, would extend protections for 2,300 current beneficiaries. It would also allow an estimated 7,300 additional Burmese nationals to apply for protections.
Though the country started a transition to democracy in 2011, military leaders tightened their grip in response to recent elections that brought overwhelming victories for the opposition party, National League for Democracy.
After the the party made more gains in the November 2020 elections, the military disputed the results. It seized control of the government in February 2021 and arrested political leaders.
The coup kicked off a civil war. Opposition leaders who weren’t arrested formed a National Unity Government in exile and launching an armed resistance against the Tatmadaw.
In the violence since the 2021 coup, an estimated 6,000 civilians have been killed, with tens of thousands detained and more than 2.6 million displaced.
The White House has responded to Myanmar’s political situation with sanctions on 94 people and 55 business entities tied to the military regime since the coup.
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