WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Homeland Security has granted temporary protected immigration status to Syrians in the United States, department Secretary Janet Napolitano says.
The waiver Napolitano issued Friday was another sign of the deteriorating conditions in Syria, where the government of President Bashar Assad has engaged in a yearlong crackdown on political protesters that the United Nations has said has left at least 8,000 people dead.
The waiver will prevent Syrians in the United States from having to return home because they "would face serious threats to their personal safety," Napolitano said in a statement issued Friday.
Most Syrians eligible are in the United States legally, and will have to pass criminal and national security background checks to be granted protected status. The New York Times reported there are 2,500 to 3,000 Syrians in the United States.
Last week, about 30,000 people fled Syria to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.
Citizens of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti were previously granted temporary protected status when their homelands were devastated by natural disaster.
