US President Donald Trump’s administration has announced plans to strip temporary immigration protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, even as it acknowledged that certain conditions in the country “remain concerning.”
On Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing its intention to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians on February 3.
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Approximately 352,959 Haitian nationals and stateless persons of Haitian origin are expected to be affected, according to government estimates.
The notification is currently in draft stage and is expected to be formalized on Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security tried to walk a fine line in explaining its decision. However, it argued that violent gang activity and instability in Haiti pose a national security threat to the United States.
On the other hand, it argued that the situation in Haiti is safe enough to merit the return of Haitians currently protected by TPS.
The department said eliminating the program for Haitians is tantamount to a vote of confidence in Haiti’s future.
“The termination of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status reflects a necessary and strategic vote of confidence in the new chapter of Haiti’s transformation,” the notice states.
“The United States cannot demand bold changes on the ground while expressing doubts from afar.”
Temporary Protected Status is short-term protection granted to alien applicants who are already in the United States but have determined that conditions in their home country have become dangerous due to conflict, disaster, or other emergencies.
This program allows recipients to legally stay in the country and receive permission to work.
Earlier this year, nationals from 17 countries were protected by various TPS programs, including Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.
However, the Trump administration is attempting to remove many of the TPS designations, arguing that they are contrary to U.S. national interests.
The reduction is part of a larger effort to reduce immigration to the United States and carry out President Trump’s promise of “the largest deportation in our nation’s history.”
But critics warn that revoking TPS and refusing to expand protections could push some foreign nationals back into dangerous situations, putting their lives at risk.
humanitarian crisis
The TPS program for Haitians was first launched on January 21, 2010, shortly after a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the island nation.
Nearly 222,570 people have died and more than 1.3 million have been forced to flee their homes, according to U.S. government figures.
That same year, Haiti suffered its first cholera outbreak in nearly a century. At the time, an estimated 10,000 people died related to the spread of the disease, and a new resurgence of infections from 2022 onwards will cause thousands more deaths.
Haiti is considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has long suffered from inadequate housing, food insecurity and inadequate health services.
These problems are exacerbated by corruption and turmoil in the Haitian government, as well as widespread gang violence.
In 2019, national elections were postponed indefinitely, and in 2021, then-President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home in Pétionville. Since then, no president has replaced him, and national elections have been postponed from this year until the end of 2026.
The last democratically elected member of Haiti’s National Assembly will have an expiring term in 2023.
A nine-member Interim Presidential Council is currently in charge, but its mandate is set to expire in February.
In the absence of government leadership, gangs and other criminal organizations are rampant in Haiti, controlling as much as 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
As gangs grew in power, human rights violations soared. This year alone, at least 1,617 people died in violence between April and June. The number of deaths in 2024 will be 5,600, an increase from 2023.
At least 1.4 million people have now been forced to flee their homes as a result of the fighting.
Court challenge
But Trump administration officials argue that the previous administration under President Joe Biden exceeded its authority in approving repeated TPS extensions for Haitians and other foreign national groups.
President Trump has accused Biden of allowing unlimited immigration to the United States and is seeking to reverse some of his predecessor’s efforts.
In July 2024, the Biden administration approved the latest TPS extension for Haitians, allowing protection to continue for an additional 18 months.
But in February, Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that the extension would be “partially revoked” and shortened from 18 months to 12 months.
Haitians with TPS would then have had until September 2 at the latest to leave the country or find an alternative route into the country.
The U.S. State Department currently has Haiti under a Category 4 travel advisory, the highest level of risk. Citing the country’s current state of emergency, it said there were threats of “kidnapping, crime, terrorist activities, social unrest and limited medical care.”
“Do not travel to Haiti for any reason,” the State Department advises on its website.
The plaintiffs point to this fact and argue that reducing the extension is not only illegal but also irresponsible.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a court brief earlier this year with 18 other state prosecutors to block TPS revocation, saying in a statement that “revoking the legal immigration status of Haitians who have found safety with their families in the United States is cruel and dangerous.”
“Haitian immigrants make tremendous contributions to our communities, neighborhoods and local economies, and New York and this country would not be the same without them.”
Some of the legal challenges to the Trump administration’s decision raise issues of racial hostility.
For example, while campaigning for reelection in 2024, President Trump spread baseless racist claims about Haitian immigrants in the United States, including that they eat their neighbors’ pets.
In July, a federal court in New York heard one of the cases challenging the reduction of the TPS extension, known as Haitian Association of Evangelical Ministers v. Trump.
Judge Brian Corban ruled that the shortening of the deadline was “arbitrary and capricious” and “violated plaintiffs’ due process rights.”
But his ruling left open the possibility that the Trump administration would simply let the existing extension expire, as Wednesday’s notice did.
Argument for expiration
At least according to Noem, the notice announcing the end of TPS protections has some discussion about why the program needs to end.
“The Secretary has determined that while the current situation in Haiti is alarming, the United States must prioritize its national interests,” the notice reads. “Allowing Haitian nationals to temporarily reside in the United States is contrary to the national interests of the United States.”
He also called Judge Corban’s July ruling an “interference” in executive branch operations.
The notice claims that Noem “determined that no extraordinary and temporary circumstances exist in Haiti” that would prevent the “safe return” of TPS recipients.
However, it argued that national security concerns preclude the government from extending the TPS program “even if the department finds that extraordinary circumstances exist.”
The notice states that illegal immigrants from Haiti continue to arrive in the United States in large numbers.
He also cited the threat of Haitian gangs and organized crime. Earlier this year, the Trump administration designated two Haitian groups, Bib Ansamm and Grand Grief, as “foreign terrorist organizations” as part of a major crackdown on criminal networks in Latin America.
The notice also emphasized that there is no central government in Haiti. “This lack of government control has not only destabilized Haiti but also has a direct impact on U.S. public safety.”
Still, it confirmed Noem’s belief that there was “positive development” in Haiti.
In October, for example, the United Nations Security Council approved the creation of a gang suppression force aimed at strengthening Haiti’s police force.
The initiative would replace a Kenyan-led, U.N.-endorsed multinational mission that has struggled to curb gang violence in Haiti.
The notice argued that providing TPS protection would undermine Haiti’s recovery goals.
“Our immigration policy must be consistent with our foreign policy vision of a safe, sovereign, and self-reliant Haiti,” the notice reads.
Nevertheless, Haiti’s safety rating was evaluated. “Only parts of the country are suitable for return,” the ministry said.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration also announced it would eliminate TPS protections for citizens of Myanmar, another country facing chronic instability.
