June 28 (UPI) — The Department of Homeland Security is ending Temporary Protected Status for nearly 350,000 Haitians living in the United States as of Sept. 2.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the TPS status for Haiti ends on Aug. 3 and becomes effective 30 days later.
“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures the Temporary Protected Status is actually temporary,” DPS officials said on Friday in a news release.
“The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home,” the DHS release continues.
DHS officials said Haitian citizens can use the department’s mobile app to arrange their return to Haiti.
Several natural disasters, including hurricanes, floods and earthquakes, have impacted Haiti over the past decade, including a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in 2021.
While DHS officials say such environmental conditions are safe, the State Department since March 2024 has issued a travel advisory cautioning U.S. citizens against visiting Haiti due to crime, civil unrest and limited availability of healthcare services, The Washington Post reported.
Noam acknowledged Haitian crime and civil unrest in a federal notice that was released on Friday.
“Widespread gang violence in Haiti is sustained by the country’s lack of functional government authority,” Noem said in the federal notice.
“This breakdown in governance directly impacts U.S. national interests, particularly in the context of uncontrolled migration,” Noem added.
She said it is time for the United States to prioritize its national security.
Ending TPS protection affects and endangers more than 500,000 Haitian nationals who are living in the United States, House Haiti Caucus co-chair Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said in a prepared statement on Saturday.
She called it an “act of policy violence that could literally be a death sentence for Haitian nationals.”
“Haitians of all ages who have planted and grown roots in the United States over the past 15 years are now at risk of being removed from safe communities, taken from their families and having their lives uprooted,” Pressley said.
She called on the Trump administration to “reverse course” in the matter.
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