Judge blocks Trump administration from ending temporary protected status for Haitians

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked the end of protections that have allowed about 350,000 Haitians to live in the United States, marking another legal setback for President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, albeit perhaps a temporary one.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington granted a request to temporarily halt the termination of temporary protected status for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging it is heard. The termination, which was scheduled for Tuesday, “will be null and void and have no legal effect,” she wrote.

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“We can breathe a little,” said Rose Thamar Joseph, director of operations at the Haiti Support Center in Springfield, Ohio.

Reyes said in an 83-page opinion that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of the case, and that she found it “highly likely” that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had made a prior decision to terminate her employment because of “hostility toward nonwhite immigrants.”

The judge, appointed by President Joe Biden, said Noem did not have “unlimited discretion” and was required to consult with other agencies about conditions in Haiti. The ruling cited Noem’s words three days after he announced the end of Haitian protectionism, in which he called for a ban on travel from Haiti and “every damn country that floods our nation with murderers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”

While the ruling provides temporary relief to Haitians, the next legal steps were not clear.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin denounced the ruling, calling it “lawless activity.”

“Haiti was granted temporary protected status following the earthquake more than 15 years ago,” she said. “It was never intended to be an actual amnesty program, but that’s the method previous administrations have used for decades.”

The Department of Homeland Security says Haiti has improved, but community leaders say it remains unsafe

Temporary protected status may be granted by the Secretary of Homeland Security if conditions in their home countries are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability, or other risks. While it gives TPS holders the right to live and work in the United States, it does not provide a legal path to citizenship.

Haiti’s TPS status was initially activated in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and has been extended several times. The country is witnessing gang violence that has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

The Trump administration has aggressively sought to roll back the protections, making more people eligible for deportation. These moves are part of the administration’s broader mass deportation efforts.

In addition to migrants from Haiti, Noem ended protection for about 600,000 Venezuelans, 60,000 people from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal, more than 160,000 Ukrainians and thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Some have lawsuits pending in federal courts.

“If the termination continues, people will almost certainly die,” lawyers for Haitian TPS holders wrote in a lawsuit in December. “Some will likely be killed, others will likely die of disease, and others will likely starve to death.”

They say the decision to terminate Haiti’s status was motivated by racial animus, and Noem did not consider whether there was an ongoing armed conflict that would pose a “serious threat” to personal safety, as required by law.

The Department of Homeland Security said conditions in Haiti have improved. In a December lawsuit, administration lawyers said the plaintiffs’ claims of racial hostility were based on statements “taken out of context, often from other speakers and from years ago, and without direct links to the secretary’s decisions.”

“Instead, Secretary Noem provided logical and apparently adequate explanations for her decisions.” They said.

A November government notice announcing the termination said there were some positive developments for Haiti, including the authorization of a new multinational anti-gang force. Noem has determined that allowing Haitians to remain in the United States is contrary to the national interest, the notice said.

Jerome Buzzard, a member of the First Haitian Evangelical Church in Springfield, said it remains too dangerous for many in his community to return to Haiti.

“They can’t go to Haiti because it’s not safe,” he said. “Without TPS, they can’t work. If they can’t work, they can’t eat, they can’t pay the bills. You’re killing people.”

Haitians in Springfield are fraught with uncertainty

Earlier Monday, more than two dozen religious leaders and hundreds of worshipers in Springfield sang and prayed together in support of Haitian immigrants who fear their protected status will expire this week. They hoped a federal judge would intervene.

Uncertainty over TPS has deepened concerns for the city’s already beleaguered Haitian community.

Trump denigrated the community of about 15,000 Haitians while campaigning in 2024 for a second term, falsely accusing its members of eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs while urging voters on his plans to crack down on immigration. The false claims exacerbated concerns about division and anti-immigrant sentiment in the predominantly white, working-class city of about 59,000 people.

In the weeks following his remarks, schools, government buildings and the homes of elected officials received bomb threats.

Since then, Haitians in Springfield have lived in constant fear exacerbated by federal immigration crackdowns taking place in Minneapolis and other cities, said Phyllis Dorsainville, leader of Springfield’s Haitian Community Assistance and Support Center.

Many of the Haitian children in Springfield are American citizens with parents in the country illegally. Some families are afraid to send their children to school, Dorsainvil said. If they are detained, some parents sign affidavits from caregivers naming a legal guardian in hopes of removing their children from custody, he said.

Volunteers from nearby towns have offered to deliver food to those who are afraid to leave their homes, Dorsainville said. Others stocked up on groceries in case immigration officers flooded the area.

He added that some are receiving desperate calls from family members abroad urging them to leave. “They keep telling them that Springfield is not a safe place for them to stay right now.”

“The court’s 11th-hour reprieve is certainly welcome,” said Lynn Tramonti, executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “But people can’t live their lives this way, tying their families’ futures to a court case.”

Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City. Julie Carr Smith in Columbus, Ohio, contributed.