The Trump administration has announced the US will cancel permits allowing nearly 200,000 people from El Salvador to live and work in the country.
The humanitarian programme, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), was granted after a series of earthquakes rocked the Central American country in 2001.
Without TPS, Salvadorans will become vulnerable to arrest and deportation.
The Trump administration has already removed TPS protections from tens of thousands of Haitians and Nicaraguans.
Protections for Salvadorans were set to expire on Monday, after nearly two decades of holding the protected status due to the impacts of natural disaster in their home country.
The Department of Homeland Security plans to allow Salvadorans until 9 September, 2019 to leave the US or find a legal way to remain in the country.
