In Florida, a 29-year-old expectant mother is in hiding, concerned that she will be deported at any moment.
She is among the more than 300,000 Haitian nationals who held Temporary Protective Status until the Trump administration ended the decades-long program earlier this week after a prolonged legal fight, citing improved conditions in Haiti.
Just ahead of the expiration of TPS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made plans to ramp up operations to arrest and deport Haitian migrants, according to two ICE sources and federal documents obtained by CBS News last week.
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“I was 6 years old when I first came here,” said the woman, whom CBS News is not naming. She also said that she has no family left in Haiti.
The program was designed for Haitians who came to the U.S. to escape violence in their homeland.
The TPS program for Haitians has been shuttered despite the State Department having issued a Level 4 travel advisory warning Americans not to travel to the Caribbean nation. A new United Nations report found that there were 613 gang-related killings in Haiti between March and July, and a suspension of basic services in neighborhoods impacted by the violence.
Florida has some of the largest Haitian communities in the U.S.
A man sits by a mural at the Little Haiti Cultural Center in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami, Florida, on July 30, 2026.
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CHANDAN KHANNA /AFP via Getty Images
“I wouldn’t have anywhere to go,” the woman responded when asked where she would live if deported to Haiti.
She argues that even though the TPS program has “temporary” in its name, “anyone who’s come to this country to pursue a legal status has to have gone through a temporary process.”
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The woman told CBS News she lost her job because her TPS expired, and now her health insurance is due to run out. Her pregnancy is high-risk and requires weekly appointments. She doesn’t know how she’ll afford them.
Her partner is a U.S. citizen, so the baby will be an American wherever she gives birth.
“Yes, I do feel like I’m American,” she said. “I’ve been in this country most of my life. This is the home that I know.”
For now, she’s hunkering down like so many others. Miami’s Little Haiti appears deserted. Once bustling streets are now empty.
She only risks going outside for necessary doctor’s appointments, something she says she may soon stop doing.
A rare sighting of a Florida panther mother and her three kittens is giving wildlife officials a glimpse at the species’ potential to expand its breeding range.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — A rare sighting of a Florida panther mother and her three kittens is giving wildlife officials a glimpse at the species’ potential to expand its breeding range.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists captured the panther family on trail cameras at Babcock Ranch Preserve in March.
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The female panther and one of her kittens were spotted again in July.
According to the FWC, the sightings show that Florida panthers are capable of expanding their breeding range north of the Caloosahatchee River.
Officials said that natural expansion could be an important step toward helping the Florida panther population recover.
Overdevelopment and vehicle strikes have kept the species close to extinction for decades.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.
A North Carolina man was in possession of four undersized lobsters on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
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A North Carolina man was arrested Saturday for harvesting undersized lobsters, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
Lower Keys Marine Deputy Luis Guiardinu was on patrol around 2:14 p.m. near Sunshine Key when he spotted several people harvesting lobsters, the sheriff’s office said in a Sunday statement. Joe Lopez, 37, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was found in possession of four undersized lobsters and taken to jail.
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It is illegal to harvest lobster in Florida using a speargun. During season, the carapace of the lobster, the part that is not the tail, must be longer than 3 inches. The regular recreational and commercial spiny lobster season runs from Aug. 6 through March 31.
The FWC’s hotline to report conservation violations is 888-404-3922 or online at MyFWC.com/WildlifeAlert.
Miami Herald staff writer David Goodhue contributed to this report.
LAKE CITY, Fla. (CBS12) — A pregnant 16-year-old girl was found shot to death inside a Florida apartment, with her 17-year-old boyfriend identified as a person of interest.
Deputies with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office say they responded around 4 p.m. Wednesday, to an apartment at 4826 U.S. Highway 441 South in Lake City for a welfare check.
After making several announcements, deputies entered the unlocked apartment and found Ashia La Shai Moore dead on the floor from an apparent gunshot wound, according to investigators.
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Moore was visiting friends at the apartment at the time. Her family was notified, and later told investigators she was seven months pregnant when she was killed.
See also: Woman seriously injured after stranger allegedly ignites gasoline at Florida gas station
As detectives continued investigating, they identified Moore’s 17-year-old boyfriend, Dominique Santonio Hill, as a person of interest.
Hill was interviewed by investigators and arrested on a charge of tampering with evidence. He was booked into the Columbia County Detention Facility without bond.
The sheriff’s office has not announced an arrest on a murder charge, and the investigation remains active.
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Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 386-719-2005. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers of Columbia County at 386-754-7099.
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