The Trump administration has announced the removal of temporary protections granted to hundreds of thousands of Haitian nationals living in the United States, exposing them to potential deportation this summer, according to official documents reviewed by The New York Times.
This directive, approved this week by Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, reflects President Donald Trump’s restrictive immigration policy.
The decision overturns an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that had been granted by the Biden administration.
These protections, originally set to last until February 2026, will now end in August 2025.
TPS allows citizens of designated countries, including Haiti, to stay and work in the United States when their home country is facing natural disasters or conflicts. This program, established in 2010 following the earthquake in Haiti, has protected more than 500,000 Haitians in the U.S. That number could increase significantly, considering that more than 320,000 Haitians benefiting from the humanitarian parole program were also eligible for TPS. Many of them are still awaiting their immigration documents after submitting their applications under the Biden administration.
However, Trump and his team believe that TPS has been misused and serves as a gateway to permanent immigration. “Without a doubt, I would revoke it,” the president said last October in an interview with News Nation, following controversial statements about Haitians.
Immigrant rights organizations quickly condemned the measure, calling it “discriminatory and cruel,” The New York Times reported.
According to Ahilan Arulanantham, an expert at the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA, ending TPS could have catastrophic consequences for thousands of families.
“TPS has served as a vital protection for many members of the Haitian community, allowing them to live and work in the United States at a time when Haiti is experiencing tremendous political, social, and economic instability,” he told The New York Times.
Legal advocates for Haitian immigrants are preparing a lawsuit against the Trump administration, aiming to challenge the termination of TPS, similar to the legal actions taken during his first term.
In 2018, the Trump administration had already attempted to revoke TPS for Haitians, but legal challenges blocked the decision.
Among those affected by the announcement, Sherika Blanc, a mother of four American-born children, shared her distress.
“I am devastated. This uncertainty is unbearable, especially given the current situation in Haiti,” she told The New York Times.
Faced with this situation, some Haitians are considering alternatives, such as seeking asylum in a third country or resigning themselves to a forced return to a troubled Haiti.
The revocation of TPS for Haitians could mark a pivotal moment in Donald Trump’s immigration strategy, reinforcing his hardline stance ahead of the upcoming elections.
