Trump administration ends legal protections for half-million Haitians
who now face deportations
[June 28, 2025]
By GISELA SALOMON
MIAMI (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it is
terminating legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians,
setting them up for potential deportation.
DHS said that conditions in Haiti have improved and Haitians no longer
meet the conditions for the temporary legal protections.
The termination of temporary protected status, or TPS, applies to about
500,000 Haitians who are already in the United States, some of whom have
lived here for more than a decade. It is coming three months after the
Trump administration revoked legal protections for thousands of Haitians
who arrived legally in the country under a humanitarian parole program,
and it is part of part of a series of measures implemented to curb
immigration.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal judge’s order
preventing the administration from revoking the parole program.
TPS allows people already in the United States to stay and work legally
if their homelands are deemed unsafe. Immigrants from 17 countries,
including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon, were receiving those
protections before President Donald Trump took office for his second
term in January.
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.”
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump
salutes at a campaign rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort &
Convention Center, Oct. 11, 2024, in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/Alex
Brandon, File)
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
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