Feb 23, 2025 Story by: Editor
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has revoked protections that shielded approximately half a million Haitians from deportation, potentially making them eligible for removal by August and causing them to lose their work permits.
The decision, announced Thursday, is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to fulfill campaign pledges of mass deportations and curb the use of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which had been significantly expanded under the Biden administration to cover nearly 1 million immigrants.
In a news release, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that it was rescinding the Biden administration’s decision to renew TPS for Haitians. TPS grants legal permission to stay in the U.S. temporarily but does not provide a pathway to citizenship.
TPS beneficiaries rely on government renewals to maintain their status. However, critics—including Republicans and the Trump administration—argue that these renewals become automatic over time, regardless of conditions in the home country.
“For decades the TPS system has been exploited and abused,” the DHS statement read. “For example, Haiti has been designated for TPS since 2010. The data shows each extension of the country’s TPS designation allowed more Haitian nationals, even those who entered the U.S. illegally, to qualify for legal protected status.”
According to DHS, around 57,000 Haitians were eligible for TPS in 2011, but by July of last year, that number had surged to 520,694.
“To send 500,000 people back to a country where there is such a high level of death, it is utterly inhumane,” said Tessa Petit, a Haitian American and executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. She emphasized that Haiti continues to meet all the necessary criteria for TPS protections. “We do hope that, because they said that they are going to revisit, that they put politics aside and put humanity first.”
Farah Larrieux, a 46-year-old Haitian who arrived in the U.S. in 2005 and has been protected by TPS since 2010, criticized the decision, stating that officials “don’t care about what is going on in Haiti.”
“Nobody is safe in Haiti,” Larrieux said. As the owner of a small communications company in South Florida—where most Haitians in the U.S. reside—she highlighted the contributions of TPS holders. “This is a disruption of people who have been in this country contributing so much. People have been giving their sweat, their life, the sacrifice to this country.”
It remains unclear how quickly deportations could occur once protections expire. Some individuals may seek alternative forms of protection, while logistical challenges may complicate large-scale removals.
Haiti’s migration director, Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, noted that only 21 Haitians have been deported under the Trump administration so far, though they had already been scheduled for removal under Biden. According to the advocacy group Witness at the Border, there were nine deportation flights to Haiti in 2024.
Delva expressed concerns over the impact of returning thousands of people to a country plagued by violence, where more than 1 million people are homeless due to gang activity.
“It’s very sad that people who left Haiti to look for a better life elsewhere … will come back,” Delva said. “With the insecurity problem, the lack of resources, they will be miserable.”
The United Nations reported that over 5,600 people were killed in Haiti last year. Many displaced individuals are now living in overcrowded makeshift shelters, including abandoned government buildings, where incidents of sexual violence are rising.
Gangs currently control 85% of Haiti’s capital and are escalating attacks to seize even more territory, leading to mass killings of civilians.
To address the crisis, Delva stated that the Haitian government has established a commission to assist deportees.
“They are children of Haiti. A mother must receive her children from wherever they are,” he said.
Congress established the TPS program in 1990 to prevent deportations to nations affected by natural disasters or civil conflict. It allows individuals to work legally in renewable increments of up to 18 months.
By the end of Biden’s presidency, approximately 1 million immigrants from 17 countries—including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, and Lebanon—were protected under TPS.
The Trump administration has already taken steps to terminate TPS protections for Venezuelans.
On Thursday, two nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the administration’s decision to end TPS for Haitians. Source: AP News
