More than half a million Haitians in the United States, including thousands in Massachusetts, are set to soon lose temporary protections that have been shielding them from having to return to Haiti for the last 15 years.
They include drivers, nurses, caregivers and a whole range of people who could be at risk of deportation at the end of the summer. The Trump administration believes the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program is a magnet for illegal immigration.
“I consider this decision very inhumane. Unjust as well as cruel and racist,” Haitian-born Boston Pastor Dieufort Fleurissaint said.
Fleurissaint is fielding a barrage of calls and messages from the local Haitian community after the Department of Homeland Security set an earlier end date for Haiti’s part in the Temporary Protective Status program.
“[It] really broke my heart,” he said. “What people are worried about, they say if we have to go [back to Haiti] as parents, we would not want to go with our children.”
The Biden administration had extended TPS for Haitians in the U.S. through February 2026, but Thursday’s order rolls it back to its previous expiration, Aug. 3.
Local advocacy group MIRA Coalition estimates about 15,000 Haitians with Temporary Protective Status living in the Bay State.
“It’s too dangerous in Haiti right now,” said Polinio, a Haitian man who preferred not to share his last name.
The Joseph family has lived in a Kingston hotel since November of 2022, but now has a chance at a new life.
Polinio is working and living in Worcester with his wife and two children, all of whom are in the country under TPS, he said.
“What I’d like to ask the president is to grant us the favor to allow us to stay here because if he sends us to Haiti, we’re likely to suffer many bad things,” he said.
TPS was granted to Haitians after the 2010 earthquake. The island has since been rocked by political turmoil and gang violence, including a presidential assassination in 2021.
“They are fleeing unimaginable and unspeakable circumstances,” said Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, a first-generation Haitian American. “[To] just strip that away from people who have nothing is cruel.”
President Donald Trump tried ending TPS for Haiti and other countries back in 2017, but was blocked by the courts. He further alienated himself from the Haitian community with remarks about them “eating dogs” and cats in Ohio during the presidential campaign last year.
DHS said in a press release, “Biden and Mayorkas attempted to tie the hands of the Trump administration by extending Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status by 18 months–far longer than justified or necessary.
“We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades. President Trump and Secretary Noem are returning TPS to its original status: temporary.”
“You don’t know who has TPS here. And the thing is, they’re here legally,” said
Boston City Councilor Enrique Pepén presides over several immigrant communities in his district, including Mattapan and Hyde Park. He said he’s heard fear of what’s to come.
“A few weeks ago with the Salvadorian community, then the Venezuelan community; he’s coming for all of us,” he said.
“We’re going to pray for the president to use compassion, to use love, because that is what the Bible teaches us to do,” Fleurissaint said.
Louijeune expects lawsuits to come out of this latest decision, similar to how other pro-immigrant groups filed a lawsuit this week against the administration to keep TPS for Venezuelans.
There are currently 17 countries with TPS, with 11 set to expire this year, according to DHS:
- Venezuela: April 7 & Sept. 10
- South Sudan: May 3
- Afghanistan: May 20
- Cameroon: June 7
- Nepal: June 24
- Honduras: July 5
- Nicaragua: July 5
- Haiti: Aug. 3
- Syria: Sept. 30
- Burma: Nov. 25
- Ethiopia: Dec. 12
