Trump Moves To End Haitian TPS, Deportations Loom For Half a Million/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ President Trump’s administration is ending TPS protections for Haitians, impacting around half a million people. Officials claim conditions in Haiti have improved despite ongoing gang violence and instability. Advocates warn mass deportations could endanger lives and devastate U.S. communities.
Quick Look
- DHS ends TPS protections for ~500,000 Haitians
- Deportations may start after Sept. 2, 2025
- Advocates condemn decision amid Haiti’s deep crisis
Trump Administration Ends TPS Protections for Half-Million Haitians, Raising Deportation Fears
Deep Look
MIAMI (AP) — The Biden administration announced Friday it will terminate legal protections for around half a million Haitians living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), exposing them to possible deportation despite ongoing turmoil in their homeland.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said conditions in Haiti have sufficiently improved to end TPS for Haitian nationals, who have been allowed to live and work legally in the U.S., in many cases for over a decade.
“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protected Status is actually temporary,” a DHS spokesperson said.
The change is part of President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown during his second term, fulfilling campaign promises to reduce legal protections for migrants and pursue mass deportations. TPS covers immigrants whose countries have suffered natural disasters, armed conflict, or other extraordinary crises. Haitians were among roughly one million people from 17 nations protected under TPS when Trump took office.
The Trump administration has already moved to end TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and some Afghans, following its termination of legal protections for Haitians previously admitted under a humanitarian parole program.
In recent months, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to revoke that parole program, which had allowed thousands of Haitians to enter legally.
For many Haitians, Friday’s announcement came as a shock given the dire conditions in their homeland.
Gang violence has forced 1.3 million people from their homes in Haiti, and a recent report from the International Organization for Migration warned of a 24% increase in displacement since December. Armed groups have driven roughly 11% of the country’s nearly 12 million people from their communities.
“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, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition and a Haitian-American advocate.
Despite the administration’s claim that conditions have improved, the U.S. State Department has not lifted its “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti, citing widespread kidnapping, violent crime, civil unrest, and a collapsing health care system.
TPS for Haitians is now set to expire on Aug. 3, with deportations to begin after Sept. 2, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. DHS has advised TPS holders to arrange voluntary departures using its CBP Home mobile application.
The move leaves many Haitians in limbo, uncertain if other legal avenues like asylum might protect them from deportation.
Frantz Desir, 36, who arrived in the U.S. in 2022 and currently awaits an asylum hearing, said he fears being swept up in deportations.
“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,” said Desir, who lives in Springfield, Ohio, with his wife and two children and works in a car parts plant. “Even if it hasn’t happened to you yet, you start to worry, ‘What if it’s me next?’”
Desir said his asylum hearing was recently postponed from this year to 2028, prolonging his uncertainty.
Haitian immigrants, their advocates, and Democratic lawmakers have vowed to fight the administration’s decision, warning it could devastate communities and families who have built lives in the U.S.
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