While legalization for undocumented immigrants is looking increasingly unlikely, the Department of Homeland Security surprised many by announcing yesterday that it will extend for 12 months temporary worker visas that have been issued to more than 304,000 Central Americans.

“It’s a great relief in the midst of this uncertain situation, this anti-immigrant environment,” the director of the Queens-based advocacy group Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan, Miguel Ramirez, said in Spanish.

Nicaragua and Honduras first received the visas, known as Temporary Protected Status, after Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and El Salvador followed after a devastating earthquake in 2001. They are three of seven countries with the special status; the others are Burundi, Liberia, Sudan, and Somalia.

TPS is a highly contested visa that provides legal residence and the authority to work to residents of nations undergoing extraordinary civil strife, armed conflict, or natural disasters.

Critics of the program charge it encourages immigrants, many of whom arrived in America illegally, to set down roots, meaning they do not leave after conditions improve in their nations. Other critics say the program is not broad enough and should be extended to other strife-torn countries such as Haiti, Congo, and Colombia.

Last month, reports that the Bush administration wanted to cancel TPS status to the Central American nations spurred tens of thousands of immigrants to protest around the country. They were distressed at the prospect of being forced to return to their native countries or go underground and live illegally in America.

“To turn them back to undocumented without work permission is really harsh. It’s just not humane,” said Brian Mulligan, a staff member at Central American Legal Assistance, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit. “People are now here five or six years legally – they’ve established roots, established families – and then to lose your status is frightening for families, and the situations in their countries are just horrendous.”

Nationally, the extension covers about 225,000 Salvadorans, 75,000 Hondurans, and 4,000 Nicaraguans. Extensions will expire September 9, 2007, for Salvadorans and July 5, 2007, for Hondurans and Nicaraguans.

Supporters note that TPS not only provides thousands with livelihoods in America, it also buoys the economies of their home countries, due to the remittances sent from America. Central American politicians – including El Salvador’s president, who will meet with President Bush Friday – have lobbied Washington to renew the program.

While relieved, Central American leaders noted the TPS extension is only a temporary solution and urged the government to provide undocumented immigrants with permanent legal status.