MIAMI (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that it will end legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, leading to possible deportation.
DHS said that conditions in Haiti have improved and Haitians no longer meet the conditions for the temporary legal protections.
This decision affects around 500,000 Haitians currently residing in the U.S., many of whom have been there for over ten years under temporary protected status (TPS). This follows the Trump administration’s recent cancellation of legal protections for Haitian arrivals under a humanitarian parole program, as part of broader immigration restriction efforts.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal judge’s order preventing the administration from revoking the parole program.
TPS permits individuals already in the U.S. to remain and work legally if their home countries are considered dangerous. Before President Donald Trump’s second term began in January, immigrants from 17 nations, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Lebanon, were benefiting from these protections.
President Trump is ending protections and programs for immigrants as part of his mass deportations promises. During his political campaign he said his administration would scale back the use of TPS, which covered more than 1 million immigrants. His campaign highlighted unfounded claims that Haitians who live and work legally in Springfield, Ohio, as TPS holders were eating their neighbors’ pets.
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and some Afghans have been told already that they’re losing their TPS status.
Some of the Haitians who benefit from TPS have requested asylum or other lawful immigration status that could protect them from deportation, although it is not clear how many could be left without any relief.
“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,” a DHS spokesperson said. “The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.”
The Department of State, nonetheless, has not changed its travel advisory and still recommends Americans “do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.”
Temporary protected status for Haitians expires on Aug. 3, and the termination will be effective on Sept. 2, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
DHS advised TPS holders to return to Haiti using a mobile application called CBP Home.
Gang violence has displaced 1.3 million people across Haiti as the local government and international community struggle to contain an spiraling crisis, according to a recent report from the International Organization for Migration. The report warned of a 24% increase in displaced people since December, with gunmen having chased 11% of Haiti’s nearly 12 million inhabitants from their home.
“Deporting people back to these conditions is a death sentence for many, stripping them of their fundamental right to safety and dignity,” said Tessa Pettit, a Haitian-American who is executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Frantz Desir, 36, has been in the U.S. since 2022 on asylum, but he says he is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to terminate TPS.
“You see your friends who used to go to work every day, and suddenly—without being sick or fired—they just can’t go anymore. It hits you. Even if it hasn’t happened to you yet, you start to worry, ‘What if it’s me next?’”
Desir says his asylum court date was set for this year, but the judge rescheduled it for 2028.
Desir lives in Springfield, Ohio, with his wife and two children, and he works in a car parts manufacturing plant.
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AP reporter Obed Lamy contributed from Indianapolis
