Judge Blocks Feds From Ending TPS for Haitians

A federal judge has blocked the end of protections that have allowed roughly 350,000 Haitians to live in the US, dealing President Trump's immigration agenda another legal, though perhaps temporary, setback. On Monday, US District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington granted a request to pause the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds, the AP reports. The termination, which was set for Tuesday, "shall be null, void, and of no legal effect," she wrote. "We can breathe for a little bit," said Rose-Thamar Joseph, the operations director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Ohio.

Reyes said in an 83-page opinion that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of the case, and that she found it "substantially likely" that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem preordained her termination decision because of "hostility to nonwhite immigrants."

• The judge, a Joe Biden appointee, said Noem did not have "unbounded discretion" and was required to consult with other agencies on conditions in Haiti. The ruling cited Noem's own words three days after announcing an end to Haitian protections, calling for a travel ban from Haiti and "every damn country that has been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."

• "The plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders," Reyes wrote, per Mother Jones. "They are not, it emerges, 'killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.' They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer's disease, Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse."
• While the ruling grants temporary relief to Haitians, the next legal steps were unclear. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denounced the ruling as "lawless activism." "Haiti's TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago," she said. "It was never intended to be a de facto amnesty program, yet that's how previous administrations have used it for decades."
• Temporary Protected Status can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary if conditions in home countries are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability, or other dangers. While it grants TPS holders the right to live and work in the US, it does not provide a legal pathway to citizenship. DHS says Haiti has improved, but community leaders say it's still unsafe.
• Trump denigrated Springfield's community of about 15,000 Haitians while campaigning in 2024 for a second term, falsely accusing its members of eating their neighbors' cats and dogs as he pitched voters on his plans for an immigration crackdown. The false claims exacerbated fears about division and anti-immigrant sentiment in the mostly white, working-class city of about 59,000 people.
• In the weeks after his comments, schools, government buildings and the homes of elected officials received bomb threats. Since then, Haitians in Springfield have lived in constant fear that has only been exacerbated by the federal immigration crackdowns happening in Minneapolis and other cities, said Viles Dorsainvil, a leader of Springfield's Haitian Community Help and Support Center.