A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end deportation protections for more than 350,000 Haitian immigrants, who are allowed to live and work in the US legally under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). A day before the TPS was set to lapse, US judge Ana Reyes remarked that the Department of Homeland Security boss does not have the facts or the law on her side. Judge Reyes noted, Plaintiffs charge that Secretary [Kristi] Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely.

The administration has contended that TPS schemes attract illegal immigration and have been abused and extended excessively by Democrats. However, TPS prevents US officials from deporting immigrants to countries deemed unsafe due to natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other crises.

In an emphatic 83-page ruling, Reyes denied the Trump administration's motion to dismiss the lawsuit and ordered that deportation protections remain while the case proceeds through the courts. The plaintiffs include five Haitian TPS holders. Judge Reyes rebutted derogatory claims about TPS holders, stating they are not, as originally portrayed, 'killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.' Haiti was designated for TPS following a devastating earthquake in 2010 and has seen repeated extensions, including the latest under the Biden administration in 2021.

The Trump administration has expressed a desire to dismantle TPS programs, potentially putting hundreds of thousands of migrants from various countries, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Venezuela, at risk of deportation. Additionally, it has moved to terminate deportation protections for around 2,500 Somalis, set to take effect from March 17, jeopardizing their work authorizations and legal status.}