WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday unexpectedly extended an immigration designation granting protected status to Liberians for an additional year, just three days before the status was to expire.
Trump last year ordered an end to Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) eligibility for Liberians, a status first granted to them during the presidency of Republican George W. Bush that enabled the immigrants to work and protected them from deportation. Trump declared a one-year "wind-down" period, which set the final expiration date of the status as March 31.