A federal judge Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to strip hundreds of thousands of Haitian nationals of deportation protection.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan — appointed to the bench in New York by President George W. Bush — blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision to unwind Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than half a million Haitians living in the United States, according to court documents. The Biden administration previously extended TPS for Haiti months before President Donald Trump returned to office.
DHS’ attempt to terminate TPS early violates a statute requiring a certain amount of notice prior to reconsidering a designation, Cogan’s 23-page ruling states.
“When the Government confers a benefit over a fixed period of time, a beneficiary can reasonably expect to receive that benefit at least until the end of that fixed period,” Cogan stated. “Here, too, plaintiffs have evinced a reliance interest in Haiti maintaining its TPS designation until February 3, 2026.”
The Biden administration had previously extended TPS for Haiti until Feb. 3, 2026, but the Trump administration sought to dramatically cut this timeline to Sept. 2, according to court documents. The Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association, the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ and other plaintiffs sued over the Trump administration’s move.
Created in 1990, TPS is a federal authority that bestows sweeping deportation protections and work eligibility to certain foreign nationals living in the U.S., including illegal migrants, whose home countries are experiencing conflict or devastating natural disasters, making it potentially unsafe for them to go back, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Haiti itself has been designated for TPS since 2010, and with each extension over the years, more and more Haitians have qualified for deportation relief. DHS estimated that roughly 57,000 Haitian nationals were eligible for the designation in May of 2011. That number climbed to 155,000 in August 2021, and by July 2024 it had rocketed to 520,694, according to the federal government.
The Biden administration announced it was extending TPS for Haiti again in June 2024, citing ongoing political upheaval within the country, such as gangs storming a prison and releasing inmates and their prime minister resigning amid the chaos. Trump’s DHS early on called this extension “far longer than justified.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced Friday that TPS for Haiti would officially expire on Aug. 3 and the termination would take effect on Sept. 2, according to the department. A DHS spokesperson said the decision restored integrity to the program by actually keeping it temporary, and noted that conditions in Haiti had substantially improved.
The Trump administration ripped Cogan’s ruling in a Wednesday public statement.
“This ruling delays justice and seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades.”
“The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe, and we expect a higher court to vindicate us in this,” McLaughlin continued. “We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”
The Trump administration has sought to unwind other Biden-era deportation protection programs. The Supreme Court in May gave DHS the green light to revoke the legal status of roughly half a million migrants enrolled in CHNV, a parole program initiated by the Biden administration that allowed roughly 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela into the country — opening the door for their removal from the country.
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