Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto urged Joe Biden extend protections and work permits to illegal immigrants before Donald Trump takes office. Referring to the president-elect’s mass expulsion plan, the 60-year-old on Wednesday called on the president to use his “power” to protect immigrants.

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto urges Biden to protect illegal immigrants before Trump takes office

“I remember the calls I received in my office during the first Trump administration from families threatened because of the migratory chaos he had created. President Biden has the power to protect immigrant families, and I call on him to use it,” Masto wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The senator highlighted the use of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which allows those already living in the United States to obtain a work permit. Administered by the Department of Homeland Security, the statute also protects migrants from deportation.

Masto’s tweet came just a day after she urged Biden to extend TPS status for immigrants. Hello Joe. “They are part of our communities, and what the president can do is just file a lawsuit to extend their TPS status,” she said on Tuesday’s episode of the TV show . MSNBC to show.

“But it’s not just about our TPS recipients. I hope that the President, over the last two months, will also quickly process the requests of our DACA recipients. We need to make sure that our dreamers also have the opportunity to stay here, to continue to be part of the country they grew up in,” the Democrat added.

While the first Trump administration failed to reduce the use of TPS, the next administration should either end it or limit renewal processes, allowing the status to expire. During her interview Tuesday, the senator said “no one is safe.”

“They’re going to engage in mass evictions, and no one is safe,” Masto said, adding, “That’s why I’m asking the administration to step in and take whatever steps they can now to protect part of the immigrant community, TPS recipients and DACA recipients, make sure that at least we’re providing certainty to them and keeping their families together.