350,000 Haitians in US face loss of Temporary Protected Status

An estimated 350,000 Haitians living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status faced the loss of legal permission to live and work in the country from the end of Monday.

The Supreme Court said last month that the Trump administration could end TPS for Haitians and about 6,000 Syrians without judicial review. The impact of the decision could also apply to migrants from many other backgrounds.

TPS protects people from deportation when their countries are designated unsafe because of war, natural disasters or other extraordinary circumstances.

Nancy Hagans, president of the New York Nurses Association, told AFP that thousands of her members would be unable to work after TPS ends for Haitians. She said the decision would take resources from hospitals, nursing homes and underserved communities, as well as economic value from local communities.

One Haitian healthcare worker who has lived in the United States under TPS for many years said she was still deciding where to go next. “You can’t move. You’re like a prisoner and you didn’t do anything wrong,” she told AFP.

Hagans said the union had advised affected members to get their affairs in order in case they were caught up in immigration raids, including arranging papers, bank money and homes.

A Republican senator on Wednesday blocked an effort by congressional Democrats to extend TPS for Haitians.

Since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in 2025, his administration has revoked TPS for migrants from more than a dozen countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras and Somalia.

New York-based Haitian American artist Lyne Lucien said the decision had created uncertainty for the Haitian diaspora, including concern over family separation and whether returning to Haiti was safe or realistic.

Haiti has long faced poverty, corruption, political instability and natural disasters. Its last president was assassinated in 2021 and has not been replaced, and the country has not held any election since 2016. Since early 2024, Haiti has also suffered violence and other crime from powerful gangs that control nearly all of Port-au-Prince and the country’s main roads.