In a significant judicial development, a federal court has issued a temporary injunction against the Trump administration’s initiative to terminate deportation safeguards for over 350,000 Haitian immigrants residing legally in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The ruling emerged just one day before these protections were scheduled to expire.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes delivered a sharply worded 83-page decision that denied the administration’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, while simultaneously granting plaintiffs’ request to maintain TPS protections throughout ongoing litigation. The judge characterized the Department of Homeland Security’s position as lacking both factual and legal foundation.
The court document revealed striking language, with Judge Reyes noting that plaintiffs had effectively demonstrated that Secretary Kristi Noem appeared to have “preordained her termination decision” potentially motivated by “hostility to nonwhite immigrants.” The ruling specifically referenced and rejected Noem’s characterization of immigrants as “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.”
This legal challenge was initiated by five Haitian TPS holders who faced potential deportation. The TPS program, established by Congress, prevents removal of immigrants to countries experiencing natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary crises. Haiti originally received TPS designation following the catastrophic 2010 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation.
The Trump administration had contended that TPS programs inadvertently encourage illegal immigration and have been subject to prolonged extensions that contradict congressional intent, effectively transforming temporary status into permanent residency. The administration has pursued similar termination efforts against TPS protections for approximately 2,500 Somalis, scheduled to lose work authorizations and legal status beginning March 17, alongside broader efforts affecting migrants from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, South Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela.
The Biden administration had most recently extended Haiti’s TPS designation in 2021, highlighting the ongoing policy divergence between administrations regarding immigration enforcement and humanitarian protections.