Quick summary:
Most Haitian immigrants who have temporary protected status thought they had until next year to remain under the designation. Now the Trump administration has cut that by months, leaving individuals and families until August when they may face deportation. A similar fate is also affecting Venezuelans in America.
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Immigration blitz against Haitians turns into a countdown
Hey, y’all,
Haitian immigrants are among the latest major targets of the Trump administration’s efforts to make life as hard as possible for people who’ve migrated to American shores.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has reneged on the government’s pledge for Haitians in the country to live here under Temporary Protected Status, which meant that they would be free from the threat of deportation until February 2026. The government now says they can stay only until August under that designation.In the Federal Register, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who has made a point of being in ICE raid photos and running TV ads to threaten undocumented immigrants, partially set aside the June 4, 2024, decision by former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to extend TPS status to February 2026.
It covered about 199,000 Haitian nationals and because it also gave new designation to Haiti for more TPS immigrants, another 321,000 new applicants would have qualified for the same period. But the change now means the extension only runs until Aug. 3, according to The Haitian Times. Those new applicants are also under this designation.The original U.S. government TPS for Haitian immigrants launched in 2011, not long after the devastating earthquake that struck near Port-au-Prince in 2010, killing an estimated 300,000 people. But because of continued chaos in the country that designation has been renewed several times.
Noem’s order effectively ends those renewals, and accuses the Biden administration of trying to “tie the hands of the Trump administration by extending Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status by 18 months—far longer than justified or necessary,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.But what the government is doing behind desks affects real people and their families.
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