‘People are in shock’: The end of TPS hits the heart of the US Haitian diaspora

The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the Donald Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitians has shaken Little Haiti, North Miami and other South Florida communities that host the largest Haitian diaspora in the United States. The high court’s conservative majority, in a 6-3 ruling, cleared the way for the Republican government to remove migration protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti and Syria, many of whom have lived, worked and raised families in the United States for more than a decade. Immigrant-rights groups and experts warn the ruling also sets a precedent that could make it easier to cancel TPS for beneficiaries from other countries.

The first Haitians granted TPS arrived in the U.S. after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010. Since then they have started families, bought homes and opened businesses, although they never had a path to permanent residency or citizenship.

“It’s a devastating blow to the hopes of many people who had made this country their home,” says Pastor Reginald Joseph of the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church in Homestead, south of Miami. “There are people who have been here 15 or 20 years, who went to college, bought a house, run businesses and have children who are U.S. citizens. Overnight they’re being told TPS no longer exists.”

Joseph points to the uncertainty facing the community. “There are families who will have to decide whether to separate or to take their children to a country the U.S. government itself advises against traveling to because of violence. People are in shock. They don’t know what to do,” he adds.

Vanessa Joseph, a Miami city official and Haitian community leader, echoes the same feelings. “Families are reacting with fear, pain, confusion and a sense of betrayal. This decision is not being experienced as an abstract legal ruling. It’s being felt at kitchen tables, in churches, at workplaces and in conversations between parents who are now asking impossible questions: Will I be able to keep working? Will I lose my driver’s license? What will happen to my children if I am detained or deported? How do I prepare my family for something no family should ever have to prepare for?”

Haiti has been mired in a deep socioeconomic crisis for more than a decade, battered by natural disasters, institutional collapse and political instability that intensified after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Gangs and paramilitary groups control vast areas of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other regions. Human rights groups estimate more than 1 million people have been internally displaced, fleeing widespread violence. The U.S. State Department warns against travel to Haiti because of the risks.

Since its creation, TPS for Haitians has been extended every 18 months by successive U.S. administrations, including former President Joe Biden, who signed the most recent extension in August 2024. When Trump began his second term, the Department of Homeland Security, then still led by Kristi Noem, decided Haiti no longer met the criteria and said it was against ”the national interest” for Haitians to remain in the U.S.

In addition to challenging Noem’s decision all the way up to the Supreme Court, TPS advocates also took their fight to Congress, which is controlled by Republicans in both chambers. In April, the House approved a bipartisan bill to extend TPS for Haiti for three years, but the measure is stalled in the Senate.

Guerline Jozef, director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, which defends migrants’ rights, says, “Haiti is worse today than when it received TPS after the 2010 earthquake.” “More than 80% of Port-au-Prince is controlled by armed groups, there are 1.3 million internally displaced people and the infrastructure needed to receive hundreds of thousands of returnees does not exist. Those conditions make return not only dangerous but impossible,” she says.

Jozef says the public misunderstands TPS’s purpose, a misconception largely fueled by the Trump administration’s rhetoric that it is merely temporary protection. “Yes, it’s temporary, but it depends on current conditions in the country. And conditions are worse now than in 2010.”

Jozef argues the Court ignored a record of prejudice against Haitians by Trump, who has made derogatory remarks about Haiti and, during the 2024 presidential campaign, spread false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating neighbors’ pets. “Essentially, the message was that he didn’t want Haitians in the United States and, once in power, he has attacked the community,” the expert adds.

Race was central to the case before the Supreme Court. Plaintiffs argued that the decision to cancel TPS reflected a pattern of hostility by Trump and some officials toward Haitians. As evidence, they cited statements by the president from his first term in office, including the time when he described Haiti as a “shithole country.” The three progressive justices who dissented on Thursday said there was more than enough evidence that the decision was motivated by racial bias.

Moreover, Jozef warns the ruling will have consequences beyond the Haitian community. “Yesterday it was Haiti and Syria; tomorrow it could be Venezuela, Nicaragua, El Salvador and the other countries covered by TPS. In total, there are 17 countries and about 1.3 million beneficiaries,” she added. “We’re talking about family separations, U.S. citizen children who could lose their parents and entire sectors of the economy that rely on these workers.”

Economic impact

The consequences could be felt immediately outside the Haitian community, says Marie Etienne, a nursing professor and former president of the Florida Nurses Association. “TPS beneficiaries are not temporary contributors; they are long-standing members of our workforce. They work in hospitals, care for our elderly and support the health system. If they lose TPS, hospitals will lose experienced staff and patients will lose continuity of care.”

Jozef estimates nearly one-third of Haitians protected by TPS work in the health sector, particularly in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Others work in industries deemed essential, such as transportation and food services.

The decision will have “deeply devastating consequences for hundreds of thousands of families,” says Paul Christian Namphy of the Family Action Network Movement (FANM), one of the main Haitian advocacy organizations in South Florida. In a statement, FANM condemned the decision as “a profound injustice,” lamenting that the Court ignored allegations of discriminatory treatment toward Haitian immigrants.

“We reject the dehumanizing message this sends. Haitian families, workers and communities matter, and their contributions to this country cannot be erased or ignored,” Namphy said.

“People are, rightly, confused, scared and devastated by this Supreme Court decision,” says Emmanuella Telfort, president of the Haitian Bar Association of South Florida, who warned that Haiti “is not in a position to receive hundreds of thousands of people” who have lived in the U.S. for more than a decade. The association is offering free guidance to TPS beneficiaries seeking to understand their options.

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