Advocacy Groups Sue Trump Administration For Attempting To End Temporary Protected Status For Haitians

Haitians that voted for Trump in 2024 don't believe he will be successful in his efforts to revoke TPS.

NBC News reports that three advocacy organizations, Haitian-Americans United Inc., Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, and UndocuBlack Network, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration as they attempted to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) early for people from Haiti living in the U.S..

The suit, filed on Mar. 3, is a result of President Donald Trump’s team rolling back the TPS extension until February 2026 under former President Joe Biden. This extension required Haitians to return to the Caribbean nation by Aug. 3 and Venezuelans to return to South America by April 2. The litigation continues to argue that the Trump-Vance administration doesn’t have the authority to “revoke an extension that has already been granted.”

In a statement, Mirian Albert, the senior attorney for Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), who is representing the groups, called TPS a “critical” element for immigrants. “TPS is a critical lifeline for immigrants who have fled extreme violence, political upheaval, and natural disasters in their home countries,” Albert said.

Attorneys say this is just the first of many suits that are coming down the pipeline as a number of U.S.-living immigrants are against the move, even those who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election. “He can’t preemptively end something that has been granted to them,” Paul Simon, a Haitian immigrant living in Boston, said.

Admitting he is pro-Trump, Simon doesn’t think the 47th President is going to be successful in this feat. “I think he’s going to fail at this. I’m a pro-Trump guy,” he said.

“But I disagree with that. If someone’s TPS is not going to expire till 2026, he shouldn’t be able to boot them out until 2026.”

In Massachusetts, close to 30,000 Haitian immigrants found refuge in the state after escaping from the country riddled in violence and political turmoil, according to WCVB. Immigrant and mental health advocates are concerned that Trump’s move will affect more than the economy. Psychologist Dr. Carlot Celestin touched on the state of depression many Haitian immigrants are sparing with as one minor immigrant toiled with taking his own life over returning to Haiti.

Others are just concerned with what life will be like for them if they return home if TPS is taken away. “When I think about this possibility of losing the TPS, I immediately plunge into a depression,” Haitian Domingueson Anglade said. “Going to Haiti and living under pressure, I think evil things can happen to me.” Executive director of Haitian-Americans United Inc., Dieufort J. Fleurissaint, shared similar thoughts in a statement, saying, “The community is anxious about the sudden loss of legal status, the possibility of facing deportation to unstable conditions in Haiti, and potential difficulties in finding alternative legal pathways in the U.S.”

Trump openly attacked Haitians during his first term and then again throughout the 2024 political cycle. The lawsuit included a time when the president allegedly referred to Haiti and African nations as “s—hole countries” during a meeting with senators. While he denied such claims, during the 2024 campaign era, his then-running mate and former Ohio state senator J.D. Vance sparked rumors that migrants living in the city of Springfield were eating neighborhood pets, including cats and dogs.