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Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Thursday reduced deportation protections and work permits for 521,000 Haitians under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson confirmed to Reuters.
The protections will expire in August, reversing a Biden administration decision that extended protections through February 2026.
Newsweek reached out to DHS for comment via email Thursday afternoon.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance said during the 2024 election campaign that programs like TPS had been abused under former President Joe Biden and suggested that they were illegal.
The Trump administration's move to reduce the protections is in line with Trump and Vance's pledge to undo Biden's immigration policies, some of which also protected immigrants from 15 other countries who are already in the U.S.
What To Know
Trump previously attempted to end most TPS enrollments during his first term but was blocked by federal courts.
Earlier this month, Noem also revoked Biden-era TPS extensions for 600,000 Venezuelans. Protections for a large percentage of that group will now expire in April.
Around 500,000 Haitians could be affected by the DHS' move to end TPS in August 2025. The department said it was allowing the protections to lapse in part because those who entered the country illegally were able to participate in the program.
TPS protections are only granted to nationals who can prove they have been continuously present in the U.S. since the most recent limit set by DHS. Those who have been convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors are not eligible for TPS.
Haiti has been on the TPS list since the country was devastated by a 2010 earthquake. Other countries on the list include Afghanistan, Somalia, and Ukraine, since 2010, following an earthquake. The Secretary of Homeland Security generally grants TPS to people from countries with ongoing armed conflicts, serious human rights abuses, or climate disasters.
Haiti does still have ongoing travel warnings from the U.S. government. Americans are strongly warned not to travel due to "kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited healthcare," per the State Department's website. But the DHS said in filing Thursday that conditions in the country are now improving.
A DHS spokesperson said that the Biden administration extending protections by 18 months, beyond August, was not necessary.
Haitians in the U.S. on TPS and a separate humanitarian parole program—which was also scrapped by the Trump administration—became one of the key focuses of the Trump campaign's immigration platform.
Vance amplified a widely debunked claim that Haitians who lived in Springfield, Ohio, were eating other residents' pets. Trump then repeated the unsubstantiated claim during his debate with former Vice President and Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris in September.
The surge in new arrivals in Springfield caused some tension in the community, but after Trump's remarks, the city became the target of a number of bomb threats against schools, health care facilities and other buildings.
When reporters pressed Vance on his claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, he doubled down and said he would continue calling them illegal, even though they entered the U.S. through legal pathways.
Trump also promised that his mass deportation plan would start in Springfield and Aurora, Colorado.
The initial claim that sparked conspiracy theories about Haitian migrants eating pets was eventually linked to an American citizen several miles away from Springfield, who later pleaded guilty to her actions.
What People Are Saying
Beatriz Lopez, Co-Executive Director of the Immigration Hub, told Newsweek in a statement: "The Trump administration is ripping stability away from half a million Haitians who have built their lives here—children, workers, parents, and neighbors who have become integral to American communities and contributed to our economy. This reckless decision doesn't just harm them; it destabilizes the very businesses, families, and local economies that rely on them.
"Deporting people to a country plagued by violence and political turmoil is unconscionable, and stripping them of legal status will only force working families into the shadows, inflicting fear in children and their loved ones and leaving industries like healthcare, construction, and hospitality scrambling for workers. Once again, Trump's agenda isn't about security—it's about cruelty and chaos."
Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, said in a statement sent to Newsweek: "We urge the administration to reconsider and protect Haitians already in the United States, as they did in the past. These individuals should not face the prospect of being returned to a nation in crisis, leaving American communities and businesses to suffer the effects of the removal of half a million people now working and contributing to our economy."
A DHS spokesperson, in a press release: "We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades. President Trump and Secretary Noem are returning TPS to its original status: temporary."
David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, on X: "The Trump administration has ordered the creation of 500K more illegal immigrants by stripping temporary protected status from Haitians. Vance said he didn't care they were here legally he would still call them illegal aliens. Now Trump gets to make the law match his rhetoric."
What's Next
The protections for Haitians will lapse on August 3, 2025 unless Noem decides to extend them. Other countries on the TPS list could also face similar moves as their time limits arrive.
About the writer
Gabe Whisnant is a Breaking News Editor at Newsweek based in North Carolina. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2023, he ... Read more