President Donald Trump’s administration ended legal protections for Haitians on Friday, making half a million migrants eligible for deportation to an island Trump has called a s–thole.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that Haitian nationals in the United States will lose their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) on August 3, ending decades of extensions that granted legal status to those who fled the conflict-plagued island.
Haitians with protected status have been shielded from deportation in the U.S. since 2010. That is when an earthquake killed 220,000 people and further destabilized the Caribbean nation, which is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and struggles significantly with both gang and political violence.
TPS is granted to nationals whose home country is grappling with conflict, natural disaster, or other extraordinary circumstances. It gives them the right to work and travel legally within the United States. TPS is set for six, 12, or 18-month terms, but can be renewed once the initial term is up.
A DHS spokesperson emphasized the “temporary” nature of TPS, suggesting that it had to end for Haitians eventually. A press release said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ultimately made the decision.
“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,” the spokesperson said.
Trump demonized Haitian migrants during his presidential campaign. He falsely said in his debate against former Vice President Kamala Harris that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating the cats and dogs of American residents—a baseless conspiracy that Vice President JD Vance helped spread last summer.
During his first term in 2018, Trump reportedly said in a closed-door meeting with lawmakers that Haiti and other nations, like El Salvador and others in Africa, were “s–thole countries” that the U.S. should stop accepting migrants from. Instead, he said the country should get more Norwegians to cross the Atlantic. A year earlier, a report in The New York Times claimed that Trump once grumbled that Haitian immigrants coming to the U.S. “all had AIDS.”
Trump’s decision to end TPS for Haiti does not appear to coincide with the island’s livability improving. The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince issued a dire plea Tuesday to Americans in Haiti, begging them to abandon the country.
Message to U.S. CitizensEvent: Routine domestic commercial air travel has resumed between Cap Haitien International Airport and Les Cayes’ Antoine Simon Airport, and Cap Haitien International Airport and Port-au- Prince’s Guy Malary domestic terminal. U.S. citizens in Haiti…
— U.S. Embassy Haiti (@USEmbassyHaiti) June 24, 2025
“Do not travel to Haiti,” the embassy warned before issuing chilling guidance to those who are in the country.
“Depart Haiti as soon as possible by commercial or other privately available transportation options,” it began. “Avoid crowds. Monitor local media for updates and avoid areas where violence, demonstrations, or disruptions are reported to be happening. Keep a low profile. Be aware of your surroundings. Be prepared to shelter in place for an extended time period. Avoid being outside after dark. Stay alert.”
That warning contrasts with Noem’s messaging on the matter.
“The Secretary determined that, overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety,” DHS said in a statement Friday. “She further determined that permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States.”
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