Approximately 350,000 Haitians in the United States are losing their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and work authorization. The change follows a federal court ruling that acknowledged that the order blocking the administration of US President Donald Trump from ending the program is no longer in effect.
US federal judge Ana Reyes ruled that the court order blocking the administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians is no longer in effect. The decision culminates a years-long legal battle over the Biden administration's expansion of Haiti's TPS designation.
The ruling follows a June decision by the US Supreme Court in the case Mullin v. Doe. The Court ruled that the TPS statute bars judicial review of the administration's non-constitutional decisions to terminate TPS designations and found the plaintiffs' equal protection challenge was unlikely to succeed. The Court reversed the lower courts and remanded the case.
James Percival, General Counsel of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), argued that Haiti TPS ended when the US Supreme Court mandate issued on July 27 and that Judge Reyes' order merely acknowledged that legal reality. He wrote on X: 'Haiti TPS ended when the Supreme Court mandate issued on July 27.'
Haitians affected by the termination sued the US government and accused it of racism, but they lost. Geoff Pipoly, lead attorney for the Haitian affected persons, said: 'Many of them must also expect deportation to Haiti.'
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was created by the US Congress in 1990, allowing people from designated countries to temporarily live and work legally in the US if they are already in the country and their home country is considered unsafe. Haiti first received TPS after its devastating 2010 earthquake, and the designation was extended multiple times due to gang violence in the country.
Haiti's TPS designation remained in place through multiple US administrations.
The Trump administration ended TPS for about one million people from more than a dozen countries, including Haiti and Syria. Trump repeatedly campaigned on ending the Biden administration's expanded TPS protections for Haitians.
Trump and his then-running mate JD Vance blamed the Biden administration's Haiti TPS policies for the influx of Haitian migrants into Springfield, Ohio, US. Residents of Springfield raised concerns about traffic safety, strained public services and cultural clashes related to Haitian migrants.
The Biden administration later expanded and extended protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians already living in the US.
