MIAMI (AP) — The Trump administration has extended protections shielding about 11,000 Lebanese from deportation, allowing them to stay and work in the United States for another six months.
The decision, announced Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security, marked a rare reprieve for people protected by temporary measures which have been harshly criticized by Republicans. The extension comes amid ongoing fighting in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.
The decision was automatic, meaning that the administration missed the deadline by which they were supposed to decide on whether to extend the measure called Temporary Protected Status for Lebanese people living in the U.S. who are covered by the program. By statute, the status automatically extends for six months if the department misses the deadline.
It was an unusual outcome for an administration that has cancelled the protections that had covered people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Syria from deportation.
TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to work in increments of up to 18 months. More than 1 million immigrants from 17 countries were protected by TPS at the beginning of the Trump administration, after the Biden administration greatly expanded its use.
The program has been at the center of a controversy.
Republicans and critics of TPS argue that the program and its protections deviate from their original temporary intent, taking on a quasi-permanent character when extended. Its defenders assert that it is a fundamental humanitarian program that prevents vulnerable individuals from being forced to return to dangerous conditions.
The DHS notice said that former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and current Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who has led the department for the past two months, “were unable to make an informed determination on Lebanon’s TPS designation.”
The extension allows existing beneficiaries to keep their protections through Nov. 27, 2026, “if they still meet the eligibility requirements for TPS,” according to the notice. The work permits that were already issued for Lebanese TPS holders will be valid until the same day.
This is the second time the Trump administration has automatically extended a TPS designation. The first happened nearly a year ago with South Sudan, but the protections were terminated in November 2025, after the six-month extension period.
There are dozens of lawsuits challenging the termination of TPS at federal courts in different states. The Supreme Court is set to make a decision on TPS that protected Haitians and Syrians during the summer, and the result is expected to have an impact on all the other cases.
Advocates welcomed the extension.
“Extending Temporary Protected Status means Lebanese nationals in the United States will not be forced back into dangerous conditions but allowed to stay and continue supporting their families and contributing to their local communities,” said Kelly Razzouk, vice president of policy and advocacy at the International Rescue Committee.
José Palma, national coordinator of the National TPS Alliance—an advocacy group that has fought in federal courts against the cancellation of TPS for several countries—welcomed the extension of protections for the Lebanese.
“But we need to find a permanent solution for all TPS beneficiaries,” he warned.
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.
FILE - The seal of U.S. Department of Homeland Security is seen before a news conference at ICE Headquarters in Washington, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - People wave Lebanese flags during a vigil, April 10, 2026, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
A bus struck six vehicles on Interstate 95 in Virginia early Friday as traffic slowed for a work zone, killing five people and injuring 34, including the driver, authorities said.
The crash happened at about 2:35 a.m. on southbound I-95 in Stafford County, near Quantico, Virginia. All five of the people who died were in vehicles hit by the bus, and three of the injured were in critical condition, police said.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a news release. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and struck six vehicles."
It was not immediately known what the bus was being used for or how many people were aboard.
“We’ve got patients in multiple hospitals. We’ve got the driver at a hospital here,” said Peyton Vogel, a Federal Transit Administration spokesperson who was on the scene. “I’ve got to say, this is one of the most tragic things I’ve ever seen. Absolutely tragic.”
Mary Washington Healthcare said it received 19 patients from the crash. It posted online that seven of the patients were taken to its trauma center in Fredericksburg, where four were being discharged and three remained in treatment — one in serious condition and two in critical condition. Twelve were taken to its hospital in Stafford, where they were later discharged in good condition.
The crash is under investigation and charges are pending, police said. The National Transportation Safety Board posted online Friday that it was sending a “go-team” to conduct a safety investigation into the crash and that it would have a spokesperson at the scene.
The southbound lanes had reopened by noon Friday, but traffic was still backed up for a couple of miles, according to a state transportation advisory.
Two of the surviving passengers, bruised and shaken, described what it was like inside the bus in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch outside the hospital where they had been examined.
Rhonda Wright and Wayne Tobin said they sensed something was wrong well before the crash, describing the driver as reckless and the bus as traveling at extremely high speeds before it slammed into the slowing traffic.
The initial collision was only the start of their terror, they said — the bus kept moving, striking one vehicle after another as passengers screamed, smoke filled the interior and belongings flew through the air.
“The bus was still going, still hitting cars,” Wright said. “We felt like we were in a death trap because there was no way to stop the bus.”
When the bus finally stopped, people scrambled to escape through the windows. Tobin said he emerged covered in blood from other passengers. Wright said one man’s teeth had been knocked out.
“I’m 64 years old, and I thought I was going to die,” Wright said. “I’m just glad I’m alive today.”
Tobin was headed to Raleigh for his mother’s funeral. Wright was traveling farther to Greensboro to visit family. Both were missing their phones and identification in the wreckage of the bus.
“My wallet is in there, my ID is in there, my phone is in there,” Wright said. “You can’t do anything without your ID.”
The bus was operated by E&P Travel, Inc., based in Kings Mountain, N.C. A compliance snapshot from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration showed only one injury accident involving the company’s vehicles in the previous two years, and listed its compliance rating as “satisfactory.”
The company was incorporated Nov. 24, 2023, by Shuo Liu, according to records from the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office. Liu is also listed as the registered agent. The FMCSA site said the company operated four vehicles and had 11 drivers.
While it is too soon to say what caused Friday's crash, federal authorities have been grappling with interstate passenger bus safety issues for decades.
Following a series of passenger bus crashes in 2008 that killed 41 people, the U.S. Department of Transportation published a Motorcoach Safety Action Plan.
The NTSB investigated 16 fatal motorcoach crashes between June 1998 and January 2008, finding that driver-related problems such as fatigue, medical condition, and inattention accounted for 56 percent of the accidents. The agency said driver-related problems were responsible for 60 percent of the fatalities in those crashes.
Among the actions recommended were creation of a pre-employment driver history screening program, and a national drug- and alcohol-testing database “to enable motorcoach operators to determine if drivers have a history of violating DOT alcohol or drug rules.”
Associated Press contributors include Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H. Breed reported from Wake Forest, N.C. and Verduzco from Kings Mountain, N.C.
This photo, provided by the Virginia State Police, shows the scene of a fatal accident involving a passenger bus on Interstate 95 in near Quantico, Va., on Friday, May 29, 2026. (Virginia State Police via AP)
This photo, provided by the Virginia State Police, shows the scene of a fatal accident involving a passenger bus on Interstate 95 in near Quantico, Va., on Friday, May 29, 2026. (Virginia State Police via AP)
This photo, provided by the Virginia State Police, shows the scene of a fatal accident involving a passenger bus on Interstate 95 in near Quantico, Va., on Friday, May 29, 2026. (Virginia State Police via AP)
