A federal judge has put a hold on the Trump administration’s plan to strip nearly 350,000 Haitian nationals of protected status in the United States.
The administration had been set to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians on Tuesday, but U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes intervened late Monday with a sharply worded opinion. In her ruling, Reyes criticized the motives of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for ending TPS.
“There is an old adage among lawyers. If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither, pound the table. Secretary Noem, the record to-date shows, does not have the facts on her side—or at least has ignored them. Does not have the law on her side—or at least has ignored it,” Reyes wrote. “Having neither and bringing the adage into the 21st century, she pounds X (f/k/a Twitter). Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants. Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the (Administrative Procedure Act) APA to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program.”
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Temporary Protected Status allows foreign nationals to remain in the U.S. when conditions in their home country — such as armed conflict, environmental disasters or other extraordinary events — make return unsafe. TPS recipients cannot be removed from the country and may obtain work permits, though the program does not provide a direct path to permanent residency.
The U.S. first granted TPS to Haitians in 2010 after a devastating earthquake compounded the effects of ongoing political turmoil. Living conditions have since worsened amid violence, poverty and repeated natural disasters. The State Department currently advises against travel to Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest and limited health care.”
Over the past five years, the number of Haitians on TPS has increased sevenfold. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania estimates about 80% of TPS recipients nationwide are part of the U.S. workforce.
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In Springfield, Ohio — where former President Donald Trump falsely claimed during his campaign that Haitians were eating cats and dogs — the Haitian community makes up roughly one quarter of the population. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has called ending TPS for Haitians in Springfield “a mistake.”
