Washington, DC – Yesterday, Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians officially ended after a federal judge was forced to lift the stay that had protected them since February, the final step in the Trump administration’s monthslong effort to strip their legal status. The Supreme Court cleared the way in June, ruling 6-3 that federal law bars judicial review of TPS terminations. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians who lack another form of legal status are now vulnerable to detention and deportation.
The damage was already underway before Wednesday. Companies had begun large-scale layoffs of Haitian TPS holders, who work overwhelmingly in health care, food service, and long-term caregiving, in anticipation of the administration getting its way. And in Ohio, DHS has already begun summoning Haitian immigrants to check-in appointments and fitting them with ankle monitors, a tactic community members expect the administration to expand nationwide.
Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, issued the following statement:
“This week, Trump and Miller got exactly what they’ve been chasing for months: the power to declare hundreds of thousands of Haitians undocumented overnight. And they’ve made clear nationals from Haiti are only the beginning. These are people who showed up for work and followed every rule this government set for them — and still lost everything on the administration’s say-so. Stephen Miller has already promised what comes next: deportation for anyone who loses this status, no matter which country’s nationals he targets next. Communities that depend on Haitian workers to staff hospitals, warehouses, and care facilities will feel this immediately. Families across the country will feel it for years. Congress has a choice: let this administration keep on hurting our families, our workers, our employers, or finally hold it accountable.”
