Haitians Have Strong Case Against Trump On Immigration Protection

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debate during the presidential election campaign on September 10, ... More 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the debate, Trump claimed Haitians were eating pets in Springfield. The Trump administration has attempted to end deportation protection for almost every group but may have to wait on Haitians. A recent court ruling that maintaining Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans bolsters the case for Haitians. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) The Trump administration has attempted to end deportation protection for almost every immigration group but may have to wait on Haitians. A recent court ruling that allows Venezuelans to keep Temporary Protected Status bolsters the case for Haitians. A new analysis finds Haitians should prevail on their TPS court actions. They have done well economically in the United States and have crossed the border unlawfully at a low level following the extension of TPS in June 2024. A Judge’s Immigration Ruling Helps Haitians On February 24, 2025, in a Federal Register notice, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that DHS would “partially vacate” the decision of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on TPS for Haiti. In June 2024, Mayorkas extended and redesignated Haiti for Temporary Protected Status for 18 months, until February 3, 2026. That action benefited Haitians who received TPS in the original 2010 designation and eligible individuals residing in the United States as of June 3, 2024. “Haitians have a strong case to block the Trump administration’s partial vacatur of former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s decision to extend Temporary Protected Status for Haitians,” according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. An earlier NFAP report predicted (correctly) that Venezuelans would likely prevail in their case against the Trump administration on TPS. On April 16, 2025, Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization for Migration, said at a UN briefing: “The situation has become much, much worse in recent months,” estimating approximately one million people are displaced in Port-au-Prince, with “almost nothing in the way of protection, particularly for women and girls.” According to Pope, “The capital city of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, is 85% occupied by gangs. It is impossible for people to go in and out of the capital city by road. . . . The safety is so far from being assured it’s just not safe.” She called the situation “dire.” In a ruling relevant to Haiti TPS, on March 31, 2025, U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen stopped Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from vacating the Mayorkas extension of TPS for Venezuelans. Judge Chen ruled that plaintiffs would likely prevail on at least three grounds. First, the judge agreed that Secretary Noem lacked the authority to vacate Mayorkas’ extension of TPS for Venezuelans. Second, he ruled that the Mayorkas extension of TPS for Venezuelans was not “novel.” Third, the judge cited statements by Noem and Donald Trump and found it was likely “the Secretary’s decisions to vacate and terminate TPS for Venezuelans are unconstitutional because they were motivated at least in part by animus based on race, ethnicity or national origin.” The National TPS Alliance, which can continue the legal effort on behalf of Haitians, brought the lawsuit on Venezuelans assisted by the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. A separate lawsuit, Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association, et al. v. Donald Trump et al. , was filed on March 14, 2025. “The plaintiffs have an extremely strong case on a narrow point of law in the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association case before Judge Cogan in New York,” said Ira Kurzban, an attorney in the case. “The Trump administration lawyers, in the TPS Alliance case, have already conceded that they had no authority to terminate TPS by shortening the time period. They will have to explain that statement in the New York case to a no-nonsense judge who I believe will hold them to their word.” The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to proceed with ending TPS for Venezuela. In addition to the arguments cited by Judge Chen, plaintiffs can contend that the Trump administration decided to terminate TPS before it conducted an analysis of conditions in Haiti. Such a predetermined outcome would likely be unlawful. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump declared he would end TPS for Haitians. “Springfield is such a beautiful place,” Trump told NewsNation in October 2024. “Have you seen what’s happened to it? It’s been overrun. You can’t do that to people . I’d revoke (the protected status), and I’d bring (the migrants) back to their country .” (Emphasis added.) Danielle Paquette wrote in the Washington Post : “Throughout American history, plenty of leaders have bashed immigrants. But never before has a presidential candidate—let alone a victorious one—vowed to banish a specific group from a specific city.” J.D. Vance, now vice president, spread unsubstantiated rumors during the campaign about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, claiming they were eating their neighbors’ pets. Donald Trump’s presidential debate with Kamala Harris drew more attention to the rumors. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” he said. “The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating—they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.” Blaming immigrants for eating pets was an American urban legend before Haitians moved to Springfield, Ohio. “Do not too easily accept the statement . . . that Asian refugees barbecue pet dogs here ‘all the time,’” wrote folklore specialist Jan Harold Brunvand, professor emeritus at the University of Utah, in 1986. Armed gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier and his men are seen in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 5, ... More 2024. (Photo by CLARENS SIFFROY/AFP via Getty Images) DHS Failed To Perform A Serious Analysis On Country Conditions And A Need For Immigration Protections “The Trump administration likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to conduct a serious analysis of the economic, public health and human rights conditions in Haiti when partially vacating Secretary Mayorkas’s decision on June 4, 2024, to extend TPS for Haitians,” according to NFAP. The Mayorkas Federal Register notice in June 2024 cited approximately 100 sources on conditions in Haiti, but the Noem notice cited only one source on conditions in Haiti. Noem’s Federal Register notice (February 26, 2025) claimed a small UN security force that arrived in June 2024 could improve conditions in the country. In a human rights report published two days after the DHS Federal Register notice, Freedom House concluded that the United Nations MSS mission did not help stabilize conditions in Haiti: “A culture of impunity in law enforcement leaves civilians in Haiti with little protection from the illegitimate use of force, and police and civilians are subject to lethal attacks by heavily armed criminal groups.” The World Bank found, “Amid the lingering crisis, high vulnerability to natural hazards, coupled with violent gangs vying to gain control over business districts, the economy contracted for five consecutive years . . . GDP [Gross Domestic Product] is estimated to have contracted for a sixth year by 4.2% in 2024 behind the backdrop of gang violence.” Haitian Immigration Data Show Economic Success In America And Little Illegal Entry The DHS Federal Register notice declared that it was “contrary to the national interest” to allow Haitians to remain in the United States. Noem implied that extending TPS for Haitians could be a “pull factor” for migration. However, the Border Patrol encountered only 64 Haitians at the Southwest border in July 2024, a month after Mayorkas extended and redesignated TPS for Haitians. The numbers have continued to drop, with 35 encounters in November and 31 in December 2024. In February 2025, the Border Patrol encountered only two Haitians at the Southwest border. The National Foundation for American Policy found Haitians have integrated and thrived in the United States based on their income growth and other factors. On average, real earnings for Haitians arriving between 1985 and 2009 increased by 46% 10 years after arriving in America compared to 25% for U.S.-born workers during the same decade. For Haitians who arrived between 1985 and 1989, real earnings increased by 75% in the 10 years after arriving. Haitian incarceration rates (in jail or prisons) are about half those of the U.S.-born: 1.2% for Haitian males aged 18 to 50 compared to 2.3% for U.S.-born males in the same age range. More than 90% of Haitians speak English within a year of arriving in the United States, and within a decade, nearly all Haitians speak English, based on analyzing cohorts arriving between 1985 and 2009. For Haitians who arrived in America between 2005 and 2009, 98.6% spoke English 10 years later. Only 1% of Haitians who came to America between 1985 and 2009 used public assistance income 10 years after entry compared to 1.7% of U.S.-born. Almost 85% of Haitians aged 21 to 54 who arrived between 1985 and 2009 were in the U.S. labor force 10 years after entering. Haitians coming to America between 1985 and 2009 increased their attainment of bachelor’s degrees from 8.6% to 15.7% 10 years later. On May 2, 2025, the Trump administration designated Haiti’s Viv Ansanm gang alliance a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” while attempting to end TPS and send Haitians back to the country whose capital Viv Ansanm controls. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2025/05/07/haitians-have-strong-case-against-trump-on-immigration-protection/