Hundreds of thousands of Haitians now face the risk of arrest and deportation to a country plagued by crime and political instability, following the removal of humanitarian protections by the Trump administration. This decision strips them of the legal status that allowed them to live and work in the United States for years. A US district judge, Ana Reyes, confirmed on Wednesday that her order blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from ending temporary protected status (TPS) for Haiti was no longer in effect. This development came after a controversial Supreme Court ruling in June that upended judicial review of the program and enabled immigration enforcement to target Haitians en masse.

TPS and Its Economic Impact

Enacted by Congress in 1990, TPS offers protection to individuals in the US when a natural disaster, epidemic, or other crisis affects their home country; TPS holders are eligible for work permits and have contributed an estimated $262bn to the US economy since 2001, according to the FWD.us advocacy organization. Many work in essential industries like construction and health and elder care; However, the Trump administration has terminated most TPS designations for countries deemed dangerous, including Haiti and Syria. This policy change led the Supreme Court to authorize ending TPS for Haiti, despite the country being on the State Department’s “do not travel” advisory list.

Controversy and Consequences

“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,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge. This highlights the government’s own assessment of the danger in Haiti — more than 300,000 Haitians have lost their TPS permission and could be deported if they haven’t applied for another immigration relief pathway. For many, no such pathway to citizenship exists, even if they have lived in the US for decades.

According to PBS News, the thought of returning to Haiti’s life-threatening conditions is “unimaginable” for many Haitians in the US; Harriett Cecilia Joseph, a former TPS holder, said, “It’s not that we don’t want to go back to Haiti. It’s just the situation [there] doesn’t allow us to.” Removal orders for Haitians in immigration courts have increased by 96% between March and June, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Trac). Immigration officials have also started outfitting Haitians with ankle monitors to track their movements, making them easy to find and detain.

Broader Impacts and Calls for Action

“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 said. Thousands of Syrians may also face similar repatriation risks after losing TPS and work permits. At the same time, a US district court on Wednesday allowed the federal government to end employment authorization for active TPS holders from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan, despite ongoing protections against deportation. This sudden change has left many immigrants barred from the workforce, forcing business owners to let go of employees in industries already struggling with labor shortages.

Haitians and their advocates are urging the US Senate to extend TPS legislatively, a proposal that already passed the House of Representatives in April. Josiane Valsaint, a Haitian who had TPS, wrote for the Guardian, “We work hard, we pay our taxes, we give back to our communities and we are a big part of the engine that keeps the United States workforce in many essential industries moving. We deserve to stay here, with our families and loved ones.”