NYIC condemns Trump’s revocation of TPS for Haitians

Caribbean immigration advocates in New York on Thursday condemned the Trump administration’s decision to revoke the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Haiti, leaving hundreds of thousands of Haitians at risk of deportation from the United States and without work permits.

Trump had campaigned on deporting Haitians living illegally in the US as part of his mass deportation agenda.

“The Trump administration’s decision to revoke TPS for Haitians is a direct attack on the thousands of families who have built their lives here, contributing to our communities and local economy, Murad Awawdeh, president and chief executive officer of the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella immigrant advocacy organization representing over 200 immigrant groups in New York, told Caribbean Life.

“This reckless and cruel decision puts Haitians at risk of deportation, forcing them to return to a country still reeling from political and economic turmoil,” he added. “Haitian New Yorkers are our neighbors, teachers, home health aides, and more. They deserve stability, not the constant threat of being torn away from their families and community at a moment’s notice based on nothing but politics.

“This is yet another example of Trump pushing his mass deportation agenda at any cost by dismantling the legal protections that have allowed families to live with dignity,” Awawdeh continued. “The New York Congressional Delegation must act now to provide permanent protections for all TPS holders and stand with immigrant communities against these cruel policies.”

He urged Haitians impacted by Trump’s decision to seek legal counsel for further consultation and to determine if they qualify for alternative humanitarian or other programs.

Awawdeh said the TPS program protected about 500,000 Haitians, who will lose their status and work authorization on Aug. 3, 2025.

On Thursday, Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, announced that she was vacating “a decision by the previous administration to extend Haiti’s Temporary Protect Status by 18 months.

“As part of this move, Haiti’s TPS will end on Aug. 3, 2025, unless extended,” she said. “This is part of President Trump’s promise to rescind policies that were magnets for illegal immigration and inconsistent with the law.”

Noem noted that TPS is “a type of immigration status available to nationals of certain designated countries that allows aliens, even if they entered the country illegally, the ability to reside temporarily in the US.

“The Secretary of Homeland Security is authorized to designate a foreign country for TPS if there is an ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions,” she said. 

But Noem added, “For decades, the TPS system has been exploited and abused.”

For example, she said Haiti has been designated for TPS since 2010.

“The data shows each extension of the country’s TPS designation allowed more Haitian nationals, even those who entered the US illegally, to qualify for legally protected status,” she said, stating that, in May 2011, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimated that 57,000 Haitians were eligible to register for TPS.

In August 2021, Noem said DHS estimated that 155,000 Haitians were eligible under the new designation.

And, by July 2024, she said, “the estimate skyrocketed to 520,694.”

Noem claimed that former US President Joe Biden and former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas “attempted to tie the hands of the Trump administration by extending Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status by 18 months — far longer than justified or necessary.

“We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades,” she said, stating that she and Trump “are returning TPS to its original status: temporary.”

Last month, Noem similarly rescinded the previous administration’s Venezuela TPS extension.