Source: Tierney L. Cross / Getty
President Donald Trump has cut protections for thousands of Haitians in the country, placing them on a path for deportation months away.
On Thursday (Feb. 20), President Donald Trump took another step in furthering his immigration crackdown by removing the Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the United States. The number of those affected by the move amounts to over 500,000. An 18-month extension that had been signed by former President Joe Biden before he left office was revoked by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, meaning that those Haitians are subject to deportation in August instead of next February.
“For decades the TPS system has been exploited and abused,” the DHS said in a memo announcing the move and echoing Trump’s sentiments about the system. The move comes as Haiti is dealing with continued instability, as gangs currently control 85% of the capital city of Port-au-Prince in addition to sexual violence incidents inflicted on children increasing by 1000% during the past year, according to the United Nations. Some have had TPS since 2010 when it was first invoked by then President Barack Obama. It follows the decision on Feb. 1 to end TPS for Venezuelans living in the United States, who number 600,000 currently in the country. Trump has badmouthed Haitians in the past and made it a campaign pledge to revoke protections.
“T.P.S. has served as a crucial lifeline for many members of the Haitian community, allowing them to live and work in the United States at a time when Haiti is experiencing tremendous political, social and economic instability,” Ahilan Arulanantham, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the U.C.L.A. School of Law head said. Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley decried the decision as “shameful,” adding: “Haitians who have lived in the U.S. for 15 years are at risk of deportation for “no reason other than being Haitian.”
Attorneys are currently fighting the Trump administration in court on behalf of an advocacy group for Venezuelans, filing a lawsuit on Wednesday (Feb. 19). Haiti’s migration director, Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, said to AP News that only 21 Haitians have been deported back to the country so far, but worries about what the others would come back to. “It’s very sad that people who left Haiti to look for a better life elsewhere … will come back,” Delva said. “With the insecurity problem, the lack of resources, they will be miserable.”
Trump Axes Protections For Haitians, Setting Up Deportation
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