In 1991, the United States government granted Liberians fleeing the civil war Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The fighting ended in 2003, and TPS for fleeing Liberians was ended on October 1, 2007. President Bush deferred the removal of the Liberians granted TPS, by enacting Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). The DED was reinstated successively under the Obama and Trump administrations, until March 2020.
In December of 2019, Congress enacted the Liberian Refugees Fairness (LRIF) provision, granting the Liberians, and their spouses and children, who were continuously in the United States since November 20, 2014 the eligibility to obtain lawful permanent resident (LPR) status. The deadline for applying for LPR status was December 20, 2020. To ensure that the people applying for LPR status would be eligible for work authorization, President Trump extended the DED until January 10, 2021. Due to the difficulties encountered in the LRIF application process, Congress extended the LRIF deadline until December 20, 2021. However, they did not extend the January 10, 2021 deadline for work authorization.
In January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Homeland Security to extend the deferral of the removal of any Liberian who was already granted DED as of January 10, 2021 (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/reinstating-deferred-enforced-departure-for-liberians/). This order also extended the work authorization as well. The extension is valid until June 30, 2022.
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