The Biden administration announced on Friday it will provide protections to hundreds of thousands of El Salvadoran nationals living in the United States, citing stormy weather and heavy rain that took place in the country.

The roughly 234,000 El Salvadoran beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be allowed to register for an 18-month extension, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Friday. The move marks the latest last-minute push to extend deportation protections to illegal migrants and other foreign nationals living in the U.S before President-elect Donald Trump resumes office and gets to work on his sweeping immigration enforcement agenda.

“After reviewing the country conditions in El Salvador and consulting with interagency partners, it was determined that an 18-month TPS extension is warranted because of continued conditions from environmental disasters that resulted in a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in the affected areas of El Salvador,” the DHS announcement stated.

“El Salvador’s extension of TPS is based on geological and weather events, including significant storms and heavy rainfall in 2023 and 2024, that continue to affect areas heavily impacted by the earthquakes in 2001,” the statement continued.