Trump Cannot End Protections For 350,000 Haitians, U.S. Appeals Court Rules

March 7 (Reuters) – A divided U.S. appeals court refused to allow the Trump administration to revoke legal protections that allow more than 350,000 Haitians to live and work in the United States and avoid deportation to their gang-ridden country.

A 2-1 vote on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Friday evening the administration’s request to stay a February 2 ruling that prevented the Department of Homeland Security from ending Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

TPS is a humanitarian program that protects eligible immigrants from deportation and allows them to work.

Under outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the department had sought to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 12 countries as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, arguing that the program was never intended as a “de facto amnesty.”

The administration asked the Federal Court of Appeals (CBE) to stay District Judge Anna Reyes’s February ruling pending the appeal. Her decision followed a class-action lawsuit filed by Haitian citizens seeking to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from exposing them to the risk of deportation.

Judge Reyes concluded that Governor Noem’s November decision to end legal protections for Haitians likely violated the procedures for revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law.

In its appeal, the administration pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court had twice authorized it to revoke Venezuelans’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

However, the two appeals court judges, Florence Pan and Brad Garcia, both appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, drew a distinction between the two cases, arguing that the Haitians deported to their country would be “vulnerable to violence in the event of a breakdown of the rule of law” and would not have access to vital medical care.

Judge Justin Walker, a U.S. appeals court judge appointed by Trump, diverged from public opinion, stating that this case and the previous Supreme Court case concerning Venezuelans were “legally identical, if not twins.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to our request for comment.

Haiti was first granted Temporary Protected Status in 2010 after a devastating earthquake. The United States has renewed this status several times, most recently under the Biden administration in July 2024.

At that time, the Department of Homeland Security cited the “simultaneous economic, security, political, and health crises” ravaging Haiti, caused by gangs and the absence of an effective government.