President Donald Trump’s administration is again moving to end humanitarian protections for Haitians in the United States.
Per a government notice published Wednesday, the administration’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will expire February 3, 2026. The decision could affect the nearly 350k Haitians living in the U.S. The designation was granted to Haiti after a string of natural and political disasters, starting with a catastrophic earthquake in 2010 that left the country and economy in ruins.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem determined there were “no extraordinary and temporary conditions” in Haiti that would prevent people from returning.
“Even if the Department found that there existed conditions that were extraordinary and temporary that prevented Haitian nationals (or aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti) from returning in safety, termination of Temporary Protected Status of Haiti is still required because it is contrary to the national interest of the United States to permit Haitian nationals (or aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti) to remain temporarily in the United States,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in its Federal Register filing.
“Certain conditions in Haiti remain concerning,” DHS said.
The notice continued, “As is widely known, Haiti lacks a central authority with sufficient availability and dissemination of law enforcement information necessary to ensure its nationals do not undermine the national security of the United States.”
It added, “Our immigration policy must align with our foreign policy vision of a secure, sovereign, and self-reliant Haiti and not a country that Haitian citizens continue to leave in large numbers to seek opportunities in the United States.”
In July, a federal judge halted the Trump administration’s effort to end TPS and work permits for about 521,000 Haitian migrants ahead of schedule. Earlier this year, the DHS had reversed Joe Biden’s 2024 extension of TPS for Haitians – shortening their status to end on 2 September instead of 3 February of next year.
However, US district judge Brian Cogan ruled that Noem had failed to follow the congressionally mandated process for reviewing Haiti’s TPS designation.
As CBS News reports, TPS allows beneficiaries to work and live in the U.S. without fear of deportation for time periods outlined by DHS. The humanitarian program was created by Congress in 1990 to allow administrations to grant a temporary safe haven to foreigners from countries facing an armed conflict, an environmental disaster or other emergencies.
The Biden administration vastly expanded the TPS policy, offering the protections to hundreds of thousands of new arrivals from Afghanistan, Haiti, Ukraine, Venezuela and other countries. Some of those who benefit from TPS entered the U.S. illegally, most commonly along the southern border, while others arrived legally on temporary visas or programs.
As part of its government-wide immigration crackdown, the second Trump administration has sought to dismantle most TPS programs, revoking or moving to revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Afghans, Burmese, Cameroonians, Haitians, Hondurans, Nepalis, Nicaraguans, Syrians, Sudanese and Venezuelans