The US is ending deportation protections for thousands of Syrian migrants as part of President Donald Trump's broad effort to strip legal status from migrants.
The action will terminate temporary protected status for more than 6,000 Syrians who have had access to the legal status since 2012, according to a Federal Register notice posted on Friday.
“Conditions in Syria no longer prevent their nationals from returning home. Syria has been a hotbed of terrorism and extremism for nearly two decades, and it is contrary to our national interest to allow Syrians to remain in our country,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
The statement said Syrians living in the US have 60 days to voluntarily leave the country and return home.
Any Syrian national admitted under temporary protected status who is still in the US after that time could be subject to arrest and deportation, it said.
Mr Trump has sought to end temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants in the US, including some who have lived and worked in the country legally for decades.
In May, he ended the temporary protected status for thousands of Afghans living in the US.
