Background: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem addresses the media during a press briefing outside the USDA Whitten Building in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images). Inset: In this courtroom illustration, Judge Brian Cogan presides over a session on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP).
Immigration advocates have informed a federal judge that the government is disregarding a court mandate stating that the termination of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians cannot occur months ahead of the intended schedule.
On July 1, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan ruled that the decision by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to end TPS for Haitians was illegal, as it did not adhere to the proper procedures and timelines outlined in the TPS statute enacted by Congress. Initially, TPS for Haitian nationals was due to expire on Feb. 3, 2026. However, Noem’s “partial vacatur” intended to push that date forward to Aug. 3, 2025, with an implementation date set for Sept. 2, 2025.
Cogan ruled that such an action was “in excess of her authority” and was likely to cause the plaintiffs “irreparable injury without postponement,” given that “plaintiffs have enrolled in schools, taken jobs, and begun courses of medical treatment in the United States.” He thus granted partial summary judgement in favor of the plaintiffs and blocked the administration from advancing its TPS expiration date for Haiti.
The group of individuals and associations tied to the Caribbean nation hold that the Trump administration has failed to act in good faith since this ruling.
“Despite the Court holding that ‘the next available date for termination of Haiti’s TPS designation [is] February 3, 2026’, the government continues to act as if Haiti’s TPS designation ends September 2, 2025,” the plaintiffs wrote in a three-page filing on Tuesday, pointing to a CBS News article from July 10 in which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is paraphrased as saying its position has not changed and TPS will be revoked for Haitians on Sept. 2.
“The government’s official actions — or, more accurately, official inactions — are equally defiant,” the plaintiffs, led by the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association, wrote. They then pointed to several instances to try and prove their point.
After Noem issued the “partial vacatur” in February, the government, as the plaintiffs put it, “wrongly” issued to many Haitian TPS holders employment authorization documents (EADs) with an expiration date of Aug. 3, 2025, hindering their ability to keep working past that date.
The government has maintained this is not a problem because a notice to the Federal Register announcing the extension – or reinstallation, in this case – suffices to prove an extension of their work authorization, but as the plaintiffs note, no such notice has been posted.
“The government has not made good on its representations to the Court,” the plaintiffs wrote on Tuesday, adding:
It is now two weeks since the Court held the “partial vacatur” unlawful but the government has yet to publish a notice in the Federal Register acknowledging the ruling and its consequences. Specifically, the government has yet to publish notice that — contrary to the February 24 notice stating that Haiti’s TPS designation would expire August 3, and contrary to the July 1 notice stating that Haiti’s TPS designation would be terminated effective September 2 — Haiti’s TPS designation runs through February 3, 2026, and that Haitian TPS-holders’ EADs are valid through that date.
Nor has the government – as of the plaintiffs’ filing – posted an acknowledgment of the judge’s ruling on the DHS website or a notice that the EADs will continue to be valid. The website, instead, “continues to proclaim that ‘Haiti’s TPS designation and related benefits terminate on September 2, 2025.'”
The plaintiffs wrote: “The government’s failure to publish a corrective notice in the Federal Register and on its website is contrary to its past practice and its representations to this Court.”
When the plaintiffs asked the government’s lawyers when they plan to publish these notices, the attorneys allegedly said they contacted DHS and would let the plaintiffs know about any response.
“A week has passed and Plaintiffs have received no response,” an attorney for the plaintiffs wrote. “The government’s conduct reeks of bad faith.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney proceeded to ask Cogan to schedule a conference so the court could “question the government over its defiant behavior” – suggesting the government needs new counsel “that is both willing and able to explain why the government has abandoned past practice despite explicitly telling the Court that it would follow that practice.”
Cogan gave the government until Friday to respond, and he set a conference for Tuesday, July 22, unless the government’s response “adequately addresses the issues raised in plaintiffs’ letter.”
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are believed to be affected by the rulings on the TPS designation, which is given to foreign countries embroiled in conflict, such as civil war, environmental disaster, or other situations, even “in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately,” DHS advises, allowing citizens in those countries to seek temporary refuge in the U.S.
In July 2024, the Biden administration extended Haiti’s TPS designation by 18 months — to February 2026. However, the new Trump administration has sought to cancel or expedite the termination of these protections. Other countries, including Afghanistan and Cameroon, have also been targeted by the administration over their protected status.
