Ahead of expiration date, advocates seek extension of protected status for Haitian migrants

With Temporary Protected Status set to expire for more than 300,000 Haitian refugees in the United States on Tuesday, Feb. 3, advocates—including the U.S. Catholic bishops—say extending the protections is a human rights issue.

“There is simply no realistic opportunity for the safe and orderly return of people to Haiti at this time,” wrote the chairmen for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committees on Migration as well as International Justice and Peace.

“The Trump Administration still has the opportunity to do the right thing—to safeguard human life, to uphold the law, and to promote greater stability for people in this country and beyond. TPS was created by Congress with these very goals in mind, and the ongoing conditions in Haiti are precisely the sort warranting TPS.”

The plea from the lobbying arm of the nation’s Catholic prelates—published in English and Haitian Creole—has been echoed by various humanitarian groups ahead of the looming TPS expiration date, which was set by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in late November. (She had previously sought to terminate TPS status for Haitians earlier in the year, but her efforts were blocked by a federal judge.)

Noem, in a June announcement, claimed that conditions in Haiti had sufficiently improved for refugees to return there—a claim based mostly on decreased encounters between U.S. immigration officers and Haitian migrants at the Southern U.S. border.

Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince remains almost entirely under the control of armed gangs, as do most of the country’s commercial corridors and rural areas. At least one analyst has estimated that insurgents control roughly 85% of the entire country, with sexual and gender-based violence also of major concern. Due to the multifaceted crisis, Haiti has not held elections in almost a decade and the current Transitional Presidential Council is set to expire on Saturday, Feb. 7.

More than 180 advocacy groups, labor unions, faith leaders, and businesses signed a letter to the Trump administration on Jan. 30, urging extension of TPS status, noting the potential security and financial impacts of forcing hundreds of thousands of Haitians out of the U.S. in short order.

“United Nations and humanitarian reporting indicate that over 1.4 million people have been displaced by gang violence, the highest number ever recorded in the country,” reads the letter, led by Haitian Bridge Alliance and the AFL-CIO.

“The United States considers Haiti so dangerous that the Department of State has designated Haiti as a Level 4 - Do Not Travel Country due to persistent violence and kidnapping.”

Haitian was first granted TPS status in 2010 during the first administration of President Barack Obama, shortly following the devastating earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands on the island and crippled its civilian infrastructure. The designation was later renewed four times under Obama and President Joe Biden. 

President Donald Trump, who during his 2024 campaign helped spread false claims about Haitian migrants in Ohio, vowed to revoke the nation’s TPS status and noted the Haitian refugee community as a target for “mass deportations.” His comments were echoed by his Catholic running mate JD Vance, who at the time served as Ohio’s junior U.S. senator. Trump, who has referred to Haiti as a “shithole,” had unsuccessfully attempted to revoke the country’s TPS status in 2018 during his first presidency, but faced legal hurdles that lasted through his ouster from office in 2021.

It is expected that the Springfield, Ohio region—the epicenter of Trump and Vance’s 2024 disinformation—will be the subject of new immigration raids by federal officials as early as this week. Similar operations across the country have led to more than three dozen deaths in the second Trump administration, including two high-profile killings of American citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis this month.

Haitian Bridge Alliance and other groups are currently suing the Trump administration over the plan to revoke TPS, with final rulings still pending. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay in one case that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with terminating TPS even as court proceedings continue.

In a separate, class action case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Miot v. Trump, plaintiffs are seeking an emergency injunction to stop the Feb. 3 TPS expiration date. A decision in that case is expected from Judge Ana C. Reyes—a Biden appointee—on Monday.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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