US Ends Temporary Protected Status, Hundreds of Thousands of Haitians Face Arrest and Deportation
Theo The Guardian
The US has officially ended Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, exposing them to arrest and deportation to a country plagued by violence and instability. The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling that limited judicial oversight, despite State Department warnings against travel to Haiti. Advocates and affected individuals are calling on Congress to intervene.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are facing the risk of arrest and deportation to a homeland mired in crime, violence, and political instability after the Trump administration formally ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that had allowed them to live and work legally in the United States for years.
On July 29, federal Judge Ana Reyes confirmed that her injunction blocking the DHS decision to terminate TPS for Haiti was no longer in effect. This follows a controversial Supreme Court ruling in June that overturned judicial review mechanisms for the TPS program and cleared the way for immigration enforcement to broadly seek out and detain Haitians.
"We will be detaining them right now," said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin earlier this week. "These individuals can either leave voluntarily or we will arrest them and send them back. It's that simple."
TPS was enacted by Congress in 1990 to protect individuals already in the US when their home country faces natural disasters, epidemics, armed conflict, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions that make return unsafe. TPS holders are granted work permits and, according to advocacy group FWD.us, have contributed approximately $262 billion to the US economy since 2001, often working in essential sectors such as construction, healthcare, and eldercare.
However, since returning to the White House last year, the Trump administration has effectively dismantled most existing TPS designations for some of the world's most dangerous countries. This policy ultimately led the Supreme Court to allow the program to end for Haiti and Syria, even though both nations remain on the State Department's "do not travel" list.
"In a shocking contradiction, the administration advises Americans not to travel to Haiti—and requires those who still go to write wills and submit DNA samples for remains identification," criticized Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge, a nonprofit supporting immigrants. He emphasized: "That's the government's own assessment of the danger. Forcing hundreds of thousands of Haitians into such dire circumstances is an unacceptable abdication of moral responsibility."
More than 300,000 Haitians lost their TPS status overnight and could be deported unless they apply for other forms of immigration relief such as asylum or green cards. For many, there is no legal path to citizenship, even after decades of living in the US.
According to PBS News, many Haitians say returning to their country is "unimaginable." "It's not that we don't want to go back to Haiti," said Harriett Cecilia Joseph, a former TPS holder. "It's just that the situation there doesn't allow us to do so."
Deportation orders for Haitians in immigration courts rose 96% from March to June, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Immigration authorities have also begun fitting Haitians with ankle monitors to facilitate tracking and detention.
"They face an impossible choice: stay without legal status and risk arrest, deportation, or return to a Haiti plagued by gang violence, kidnapping, and the collapse of basic services," Vignarajah said.
Thousands of Syrians, though a much smaller group than Haitians in the US, may also face similar repatriation risks after losing TPS and work permits. The same day, a federal court also allowed the government to end work permits for TPS holders from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan, threatening their livelihoods even as they retain deportation protection.
With many immigrants suddenly barred from the workforce, employers are being forced to lay off workers in sectors already facing severe labor shortages.
Meanwhile, Haitians and advocacy groups are urging the US Senate to extend TPS through legislation, following a proposal passed by the House in April. "We work hard, pay taxes, contribute to our communities, and are vital drivers in many essential US industries," wrote Josiane Valsaint, a former TPS holder, in The Guardian. "We deserve to stay here, with our families and loved ones."
