(The Center Square) – Hundreds of thousands of Haitians across the U.S., many of them living in south Florida, will be able to keep their temporary protection status as a lawsuit over it plays out.
The Trump administration had sought to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation on Tuesday. But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes granted the plaintiffs’ request to pause termination while the lawsuit challenging it continues.
The decision affects around 350,000 Haitians in the U.S., with about half of those living in Florida. Other states with significant Haitian populations include New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Georgia.
In the ruling, Reyes, an appointee of President Joe Biden, wrote that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not have “unbounded discretion” to decide TPS outcomes without proper analysis, including economic considerations. Reyes accused Noem of making decisions based on hostility to “nonwhite” immigrants.
“She complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight,” Reyes wrote. “She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable.”
The judge also referenced an advisory issued by the Department of State in July that warned against travel to Haiti due to “kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited health care.”
Department of Home Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the ruling “lawless activism” and said the administration will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto amnesty program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades. Temporary means temporary and the final word will not be from an activist judge legislating from the bench,” McLaughlin wrote on X.
The Obama administration first designated Haiti for TPS after a catastrophic earthquake in 2010. The designation has been extended multiple times as gang violence has spread and forced many residents to leave.
The Trump administration, seeking to end TPS designations as part of its mass deportation efforts, has faced pushback from courts in recent weeks, including in California where a federal judge ruled it had unlawfully ended protections for 60,000 people from Latin America and South Asia.