More than 300,000 Haitians living in the United States have lost the humanitarian protections that allowed them to remain and work legally in the country, after the Trump administration moved to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, exposing hundreds of thousands of people to the threat of arrest and forced return to one of the world's most dangerous countries.
US District Judge Ana Reyes confirmed on Wednesday that her earlier court order, which had blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending TPS for Haitian nationals, was no longer in force. The confirmation followed a Supreme Court ruling in June that effectively cleared the way for immigration authorities to pursue and detain Haitians on a large scale.
DHS Secretary Issues Stark Warning to Haitians
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not mince words about the government's intentions. "We're going after them right now," he said earlier this week, The Guardian reported. "These individuals can either self-deport or we'll arrest you and send you back. It's that simple."
TPS was established by Congress in 1990 to protect people already in the US when their home country becomes unsafe due to natural disasters, armed conflict, disease outbreaks, or other extraordinary circumstances. Since 2001, TPS holders have contributed an estimated $262 billion to the US economy, according to advocacy organisation FWD.us, working across construction, healthcare, and elder care.
Contradiction in Government's Position
The contradiction in the government's position was not lost on critics. Haiti and Syria, both of which have had their TPS designations terminated, remain on the State Department's "do not travel" list.
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the non-profit Global Refuge, said: "In a stunning contradiction, the administration advises Americans against all travel to Haiti — and instructs those who go anyway to draft a will and submit DNA samples so their remains can be identified. That is the government's own assessment of the danger. To then compel hundreds of thousands of Haitians into such dire circumstances is an unconscionable abdication of our moral responsibility."
Haitians with No Legal Pathway Face Impossible Choice
Many of the affected Haitians have no alternative immigration route available to them, even after years or decades of living in the US. Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) showed that removal orders for Haitians in immigration courts rose 96% between March and June. Immigration officials have also begun fitting Haitians with ankle monitors to track their whereabouts.
"They now face an impossible choice: remain without status and risk arrest and deportation, or return to a Haiti marred by gang violence, kidnapping and the collapse of basic services," Vignarajah added.
Harriett Cecilia Joseph, a former TPS holder, told PBS News: "It's not that we don't want to go back to Haiti. It's just the situation [there] doesn't allow us to."
Broader Impact on Other Nationalities
Thousands of Syrians in the US face a similar predicament. Separately, a US district court on Wednesday also allowed the federal government to strip work authorisation from active TPS holders from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan. Haitians and advocacy groups are now urging the US Senate to pass legislation extending TPS, building on a proposal that cleared the House of Representatives in April.
Trump Signs Two Executive Orders
Previously, Legit.ng reported that President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday, August 6, aimed at narrowing birthright citizenship in specific circumstances and cracking down on the commercial birth tourism industry in the United States. The orders apply exclusively to future births and target four categories: children born to foreign diplomatic staff serving another government while in the US; children of people classified as alien enemies, including members of federally declared terrorist organisations; children born in US territories if Congress passes legislation ending automatic citizenship there; and children whose mothers entered the US deceptively and solely for the purpose of giving birth at a commercial birth tourism centre.
