Trump ends TPS for Yemenis

Former mayor Amer Ghalib: “I have spoken to multiple White House officials about this matter and explained to them the risks of sending those individuals back to Yemen at this time, but it seems that the administration isn’t renewing the TPS for any country, not just Yemen.”

By Charles Sercombe
In the next few weeks, Yemeni immigrants who are in the U.S. with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to make some hard decisions.
By March, that TPS designation for them will be lifted – meaning they have to find a legal recourse to remain in this country, or face being deported.
This is a result of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem deciding that the country of Yemen is no longer considered unstable, and that it is in the “national interest” of the U.S. to end the protection.
On top of that, there are increasing reports that ICE agents are rounding up Yemeni immigrants in Dearborn and detaining them for deportation.
This action by the Trump administration is taking a number of Yemenis by surprise, considering that many of them voted for Trump in 2024.
Leading that push for Arabs and Muslims to leave the Democratic Party and throw their support to Trump was former Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib.
Ghalib, a Yemeni immigrant, got behind Trump despite Trump’s travel ban on Muslim countries, including Yemen, during his first term in office.
Also joining the Trump bandwagon locally were other Hamtramck political leaders, such as City Councilmembers Abu Musa, Muhtasin Sadman and former councilmember Khalil Refai, along with Hamtramck Board of Education members Abdulmalik Algahaim and Moortadha Obaid.
Ghalib was rewarded for his support of Trump by being nominated to be ambassador to Kuwait. That nomination, however, did not gain traction with members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Committe members took issue with Ghalib’s past comments and social media activity, which some members viewed as anti-semitic.
Instead of gaining an ambassadorship, Ghalib was hired by the Trump administration and given the title of Senior Consultant for Strategic Partnerships.
As for the TPS status ending for Yemenis, Ghalib said he is talking with administration officials.
“I have spoken to multiple White House officials about this matter and explained to them the risks of sending those individuals back to Yemen at this time, but it seems that the administration isn’t renewing the TPS for any country, not just Yemen,” Ghalib told The Review.
“There are a few thousand Yemeni nationals with TPS; most of them escaped political oppression and persecution, and the causes for that haven’t been resolved.
“If the legitimate Yemeni government that is recognized by the international community is functioning from Saudi Arabia, and they are unable to return to Yemen, even to the areas that are under their control, then how can the people with TPS return to face an unknown fate! I hope the administration will reevaluate the situation in Yemen and reconsider this decision.”
The TPS policy affects about 1,400 Yemeni immigrants nationwide.
The Trump administration has also ended U.S. visas for citizens of 75 countries.
Those countries include:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, North Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Posted February 27, 2026