Anxiety rises as judge mulls suit brought by Haitians with temporary protected status

Jacqueline Charles and Jay Weaver, Miami Herald on Jun 26, 2025

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A month ago, a federal judge in New York heard the Trump administration argue that it had the sole authority to end temporary protected status for Haitian nationals in the United States, while their attorneys countered that the judge should put the brakes on terminating the policy.

U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan was expected to issue his decision on the lawfulness of the government’s decision ending TPS for the Haitian immigrants in early June. But as he continues to mull it over, anxiety has spread among more than 500,000 Haitian immigrants who fear they will soon lose their work permits and deportation protections, as the Department of Homeland Security’s Aug. 3 deadline looms for removing their TPS shield.

In a court filing on Wednesday, lawyers for Haitian immigrants alerted Cogan that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not place a 60-day notice in the Federal Register on June 3, which would have triggered the government’s declared early August deadline.

They also informed the judge that even though Homeland Security has pledged to adjust the TPS termination date by 60 days based on when the notice is actually published in the Federal Register, Haitian nationals worry about their employment prospects because of their uncertain immigration status. They noted that some have recently received work permits with the Aug. 3 deadline ending TPS written on the paperwork.

“Employers who currently need employees past August 3, which is less than six weeks away, are unlikely to wait for the Secretary to issue notice of her still secret determination ... before hiring individuals to fill those jobs,” lawyers for a group of Haitian immigrants wrote in the court filing.

“The Secretary’s failure to give timely notice effectively ensures that Haitian TPS holders looking for jobs will not be hired for current openings and those who are currently employed will be fired from the jobs that they now have. ... The Secretary does not say why she has kept her determination a secret.”

In a court filing on Tuesday, lawyers for Homeland Security countered that advocates for the Haitian nationals have misinterpreted the government’s promise and policy.

“If the Secretary decides to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation, TPS holders will have at least 60 days from the date of publication of that determination before their lawful status is terminated,” the lawyers wrote. “In essence, the longer it takes to publish any notification of termination, the more time TPS holders will have with status.”

In March, lawyers for the Haitian immigrants sued President Donald Trump, Homeland Security and Noem over their decision to reduce Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation by six months. Before leaving office, Noem’s predecessor in the Biden Administration extended the TPS deadline for Haitians to Feb. 3, 2026, citing the rampant gang violence and deep political turmoil in Haiti.

The suit, filed on behalf of Haitian TPS holders by a Haitian clergy organization and a national labor union, has asked the federal judge in New York to reverse the Trump administration’s decision, which cleared the way for more than a half-million Haitians to lose their work permits and deportation protections.

The judge’s ultimate decision will immediately affect an estimated 521,000 Haitians, including people living in the United States for more than a decade, who face the possibility of being forcefully returned to Haiti, where armed gangs are in control of up to 90% of the capital, U.S. commercial airliners are banned from landing by the Federal Aviation Administration and nearly half of the population, 5.7 million, is facing staggering hunger.

Their suit claims the Trump administration’s decision to cut short the duration of protections for Haitians violated immigration law because it did not provide the proper periodic reviews that the TPS statute requires. Their suit also claim the government’s decision was driven by anti-Haitian and racist motives.

The case is one of several immigration-related lawsuits filed against the Trump administration in federal courts as the president has escalated deportations of undocumented migrants to make good on his campaign promise to deport millions from the United States.

TPS was granted to Haitian immigrants in the United States after Haiti’s devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake nearly destroyed Port-au-Prince and left more than 300,000 dead. It is a temporary immigration benefit for migrants from countries in turmoil as a result of civil strife or natural disasters. It allows designated migrants living in the United States to remain and work here legally on a temporary basis until the Homeland Security decides the benefit is no longer warranted.

Since coming into office, the Trump administration has ended the TPS benefit for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, Afghanistan and Cameroon, while granting a six-month extension to South Sudan.