A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the bid by US President Donald Trump's administration to end temporary deportation protections and work permits for about 521,000 Haitian immigrants before the programme's scheduled expiration date.
In February the department of homeland security rescinded Democratic former president Joe Biden's extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians to February 3 2026. It called for the programme to end on August 3 and last week pushed back the date to September 2.
US district judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, however, said homeland security secretary Kristi Noem did not follow instructions and a timeline mandated by Congress to reconsider the TPS designation for Haitians.
"Secretary Noem does not have statutory or inherent authority to partially vacate a country's TPS designation", making her actions "unlawful", Cogan wrote. "Plaintiffs are likely to (and do) succeed on the merits."
Cogan said Haitians' interests in being able to live and work in the US "far outweigh" potential harm to the government, which remains free to enforce immigration laws and terminate TPS status as prescribed by Congress.
Trump has made a crackdown on legal and illegal immigration a central plank of his second White House term.
Cogan was appointed to the bench by former president George Bush, also a Republican.
Homeland security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Haiti's TPS designation was granted after the 2010 earthquake in that country, and was never intended as a "de facto" asylum programme.
"The ruling delays justice and seeks to kneecap the president's constitutionally vested powers. We expect a higher court to vindicate us," she said.
Federal courts blocked Trump from ending most TPS enrolment during his first term.
Nine Haitian TPS holders, an association of churches and a chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed the lawsuit on March 14, saying Noem did not do a required review of conditions in Haiti before ending TPS early.
More than 1-million people, over half of them children, are displaced within Haiti, where gang violence is prevalent despite a UN-backed security mission that began last year.
"While the fight is far from over, this is an important step," said Manny Pastreich, president of SEIU Local 32BJ, whose members include Haitian TPS holders.
Noem shares Trump's hardline stance on immigration issues, and also moved to end TPS for about 350,000 Venezuelans and thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon.
On May 19 the US Supreme Court let TPS end for Venezuelans, signaling other terminations could be allowed.
Noem has authority to grant TPS for six to eight months to people from countries experiencing natural disasters, armed conflict or other extraordinary events.
The Haitian plaintiffs also claimed the suspension of their TPS status was motivated in part by racial animus, violating their constitutional right to equal protection.
Trump falsely said in a September 2024 debate with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating pets, sparking fears of retaliation toward Haitians.
Reuters
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