The Trump administration determined to finish Momentary Protected Standing (TPS) for Haitian group members by August 2025. In response, New York Metropolis and State officers joined advocates to demand everlasting protections for Haitian nationals.
Haiti has skilled a long time of political and environmental turmoil, together with a devastating earthquake in 2010, an assassination try of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, and extreme flooding and landslides in 2023. Armed teams management a lot of the capital, Port-au-Prince, whereas humanitarian circumstances proceed to worsen for locals and youth.
“We is not going to stay silent whereas Haitian households in Brooklyn and past are threatened. The Trump Administration’s merciless determination to terminate TPS for Haitian nationals ignores Haiti’s dire actuality and places households who’ve constructed their lives right here in jeopardy,” stated Councilmember Farah Louis, who’s of Haitian descent. She gathered with different elected officers and advocates at a rally at Metropolis Corridor on Feb. 27.
“This isn’t about coverage — it’s about cruelty. Stripping their protections would destabilize lives and communities,” continued Louis. “We’re right here to battle for what is correct: making certain Haitian TPS recipients can proceed to reside and work with dignity, respect, and safety.”
Stateside, President Donald Trump has had nothing however a contentious relationship with a lot of the bigger Haitian immigrant group for years. In 2018, he referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole” nations, although a small group of “Haitians for Trump” defended his feedback on the time. Extra just lately, Trump falsely claimed in 2024’s presidential debate with former Vice President Kamala Harris that Haitians in Ohio have been consuming canines and cats.
“We’re the place most of us thought we’d be and tried to warn of us about. I simply need to be clear about that. Too usually, folks tried to faux like of us have been exaggerating,” stated Public Advocate Jumaane Williams on the rally. “Proper now, what they’re doing, making people who find themselves right here legally, truly on this nation beneath a authorized standing, now right here illegally [is] to develop the folks they will deport. This goes with the truth that they’re attempting to remove birthright citizenship. As a result of this was by no means about unlawful immigration. This was by no means about discovering criminals. Ever. It was merely about Black and Brown immigrants.”
Division of Homeland (DHS) Safety Secretary Kristi Noem, who was sworn in on Jan. 25, introduced an finish to Haiti’s TPS designation from Aug. 3 to February 2026. Equally, she introduced the top of TPS for Venezuelans from April 7 to October 2026.
“Haiti is within the grip of a extreme humanitarian and human rights disaster. Atrocious massacres of tons of of harmless civilians are actually an everyday, frequent prevalence, whereas meals insecurity is rampant. There may be blood on the streets within the arms of gangs that successfully management the county whereas more and more exploiting increasingly youngsters,” stated Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, Brooklyn’s county occasion boss who can be of Haitian descent.
Hermelyn stated that the sudden determination to rescind TPS would consequence within the deportation of over 500,000 Haitian asylum seekers at present on the lookout for authorized sanctuary within the U.S. For context, New York State has the third-highest inhabitants of Haitians within the nation. There’s an estimated 196,698 Haitian residents statewide, about 32,700 of which aren’t U.S. residents, in line with the 2023 American Group Survey 1-Yr estimates.
“TPS is granted to U.S. immigrants who can’t return to their nations due to violence, pure disasters, or political upheaval — all of which Haiti suffers from,” stated Hermelyn. “Let’s be crystal clear: TPS doesn’t present a path to citizenship — and rescinding it for nations in want is a merciless, racially motivated determination that violates numerous human rights statutes.”
“These are our neighbors, coworkers, and mates,” stated Flatbush Improvement Company Govt Director Robin Redmond. “DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated the TPS system has been ‘exploited and abused for years.’ Effectively, this determination will throw our households again into a rustic the place they are going to be exploited and abused for years. This isn’t the American manner.”
Shortly after the TPS terminations, upstate’s Congressmember Laura Gillen launched H.R. 1689, a bipartisan invoice to increase TPS protections for 18 months previous the brand new finish date. Gillen is main the invoice alongside Republican Congressmember Mike Lawler and Haiti Caucus Co-Chair Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. She added that there are about 26,000 Haitian residents in Nassau County.
“The Administration’s abrupt, unfounded determination to finish Momentary Protected Standing for Haitians may have a devastating affect on Lengthy Island. Practically half one million law-abiding Haitian TPS holders who adopted the foundations, handed thorough vetting and background checks, and lawfully got here to america after dealing with excessive hazard in Haiti may very well be impacted by this determination,” stated Gillen. “TPS holders work, pay family revenue and property taxes, and contribute to our financial system…Meaning our neighbors, who’ve been protected beneath our legal guidelines, are actually having the rug pulled out from beneath them and face being despatched again to sure, life-threatening hazard.”
Along with a transfer on the legislative entrance, a bunch of immigrant organizations have banned collectively to sue the Trump administration over the TPS order, saying that it’s “illegal” beneath the U.S. Structure. The lawsuit was filed within the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Massachusetts by Haitian People United Inc., the Venezuelan Affiliation of Massachusetts, UndocuBlack Community Inc., and 4 particular person TPS recipients.
