(AFP) – The Trump administration said Friday it is terminating temporary legal protections that allowed more than 520,000 Haitians to live in the United States. The United States grants Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters, or other “extraordinary” conditions. The Department of Homeland Security said it was ending TPS for Haitians on September 2 and encouraged those who were living in the United States under the program to return home.
Former president Joe Biden extended TPS for Haitians before leaving office, allowing them to reside in the United States until February 2026. But the Trump administration announced in February that it was canceling the extension. It said on Friday it was terminating TPS for Haitians altogether on September 2. “The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home,” DHS said. Permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to US national interest, it added.
Struck by a devastating earthquake in 2010, Haiti has suffered from political instability for decades and, more recently, from increasing violence by armed groups. The US State Department currently advises Americans not to travel to Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.” President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history and curb immigration, mainly from Latin American nations. Trump ordered a review of the TPS program on his return to the White House, and his administration has revoked TPS protections for Afghans and Venezuelans in addition to Haitians.
During his campaign, Trump made baseless claims that an Ohio city had seen a recent influx of Haitian migrants who were stealing and eating residents’ cats and dogs. A UN human rights expert called on the United States and other nations in March not to expel Haitians back to their violence-plagued country. William O’Neill, a UN-designated expert on human rights in Haiti, said deporting people back there would be unsafe. “Violent criminal groups continue to extend and consolidate their hold beyond the capital,” O’Neill said. “They kill, rape, terrorize, set fire to homes, orphanages, schools, hospitals, places of worship, recruit children, and infiltrate all spheres of society.”
© 2024 AFP
