Last month, a U.S. district judge granted a request to pause the termination of Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S.
The Trump administration has lost in court once more in its attempt to remove Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from Haitians living in the U.S.
Per the Associated Press, a federal appeals court sided with U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C, who last month granted a request to pause the termination of TPS for Haitians right before the deadline. On Friday (March 6), the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. issued a 2-1 ruling upholding Reyes’ decision.
The court said, “The government’s failure to meet its burden of demonstrating irreparable harm alone justifies denying emergency relief that would upend the status quo and increase uncertainty while this appeal proceeds.”
TPS, which is given to countries designated by the Department of Homeland Security as unsafe for nationals to return to, currently applies to around 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S. It gives those protected under the policy the ability to live and work in the U.S., but does not provide a pathway to legal citizenship. Reasons for countries receiving the designation include the prevalence of armed conflict or environmental disaster.
Haiti received the status in 2010 following the devastating earthquake that, according to the UN, killed over 220,000 people. It has been extended several times since, including in 2021 after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
As of now, there are 15 countries designated under TPS, including Venezuela, Somalia, Ukraine, and Lebanon. Under former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired this week, the agency announced it was removing those protections from hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nepal, Honduras, Ukraine, and Cameroon.
Reyes noted in her decision last month that Noem had referred to Haitians seeking refuge as “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies,” and wrote in a separate opinion that the former DHS head had a “hostility toward nonwhite immigrants.”
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration is likely to file an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court as its next move. Haitians have long been a target of President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric and actions since his first administration, when he used a slur to refer to Haiti and countries in Africa, calling them “sh*thole countries.” While he was campaigning for president in 2024, he made false claims about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, saying they were “destroying” the town’s “way of life,” and abducting and eating people’s pets.
