Trump continues using the case of the Haitian immigrant who killed someone in Florida to highlight issues around TPS, aiming to inform the public about potential policy consequences.
On Thursday night, the president posted surveillance footage of the April 3 attack on Truth Social, calling on federal judges to stop blocking his administration’s efforts to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals. In his post, Trump called TPS “a massively abused and fraudulent program” and wrote that “this one killing should be enough” for judges to allow his administration to terminate it.
The case involves Rolbert Joachin, a 40-year-old Haitian national charged with second-degree murder and criminal property damage in the death of Nilufar Yasmin, a 51-year-old gas station clerk and mother of two, at a Chevron station in Fort Myers.
According to the gas station’s owner, Joachin had come into the store the day before the attack and attempted to withdraw money from an ATM. When the machine failed, he allegedly demanded cash from Yasmin, who told him the store did not own the ATM and could not help him. The following day, Yasmin was reportedly praying inside the station when she heard glass breaking outside. Surveillance footage showed a man smashing her car’s windshield. When she stepped out to confront him, police say Joachin struck her repeatedly with a hammer, killing her.
Fort Myers Police Chief Jason Fields described an intensive search that used aviation support, K-9 units, and officers stationed on every block in the area where Joachin was last seen. Joachin, described in jail records as a transient, was arrested hours later. He made his first court appearance on April 3 and is being held without bond, with a next hearing scheduled for May 4.
According to DHS, Joachin entered the United States in August 2022 and was issued a final order of removal by a federal judge that same year. However, the Biden administration granted him Temporary Protected Status, which expired in 2024. DHS said ICE assisted local police in locating him and has now placed an immigration detainer on Joachin, meaning he will be deported after the criminal case concludes.
After being read his rights, Joachin agreed to speak with detectives and provided what police described as a detailed confession, according to the arrest report.
Trump acknowledged the graphic nature of the video but said he felt obligated to share it publicly. Several Republican lawmakers echoed his message. Florida Senator Ashley Moody wrote that Democrats “actively worked to shield this monster from deportation under the Biden Administration.”
Trump has repeatedly targeted Haitian immigrants granted temporary protection since his 2024 campaign, including making false claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets. The Fort Myers killing now gives his administration a high-profile case to press its legal fight against the TPS program in the courts.
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