The Trump administration rescinded a previous extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals, arguing that the status has been abused over the years and serves as a magnet for more illegal immigration.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Thursday vacated a decision by the Biden administration to extend TPS by another 18 months for Haitians, a move that dramatically shortens the period that over half a million Haitian nationals will have deportation protections. Unless a new extension is made by the administration, Haitians will lose the coveted status by Aug. 3.
A DHS spokesperson blasted former President Joe Biden and former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the decision to extend Haiti’s TPS before President Donald Trump returned to office.
“Biden and Mayorkas attempted to tie the hands of the Trump administration by extending Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status by 18 months—far longer than justified or necessary,” the spokesperson stated. “We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades. President Trump and [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem are returning TPS to its original status: temporary.”
First established in 1990, TPS provides sweeping deportation protections and work eligibility to certain foreign nationals living in the United States, including those unlawfully present, whose home countries are experiencing conflict or devastating natural disasters, making it potentially unsafe for them to return. A total of 17 countries have TPS designations, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The Trump administration argued that TPS has been “exploited and abused” in the decades since its inception, pointing to Haiti as a clear example.
The beleaguered island country has been designated for TPS since 2010, and with each extension over the years, more and more Haitian nationals qualified for deportation protections. DHS estimated that 57,000 Haitians were eligible for TPS in May of 2011. That number rose to 155,000 in August 2021, and by July 2024 it catapulted to 520,694, according to the administration.
The Biden administration announced it was extending TPS for Haiti again in June, citing continuing political upheaval in the country. Mayorkas also extended TPS to hundreds of thousands of other foreign nationals just days before the Biden administration came to a close.
Revoking the TPS extension for Haiti was just the latest in the White House’s efforts to rollback open-border policies established by the previous administration.
Noem in January revoked an 18-month TPS extension granted to roughly 600,000 Venezuelan nationals earlier that month by the outgoing Biden administration. The Trump administration additionally opened the door to repatriate the more than one million foreign nationals paroled into the country during the Biden-era, according to a memo obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Groups supportive of more hardline enforcement measures, such as the Center for Immigration Studies, have long argued that TPS is temporary in name only by pointing to the repeated extensions of numerous countries over the years, resulting in many non-citizens with TPS status remaining in the U.S. for decades. The Trump administration appeared to be referencing this issue with TPS in its announcement Thursday.
“President Trump and I are returning TPS to its original status: temporary,” Noem said.
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