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First Post
43 minutes ago
- Politics
- First Post
Trump revokes temporary protection for 520,000 Haitians
The Department of Homeland Security said it was ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians on September 2 and encouraged those who were living in the United States under the program to return home read more The Trump administration said Friday it is terminating temporary legal protections that allowed more than 520,000 Haitians to live in the United States. The United States grants Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other 'extraordinary' conditions. The Department of Homeland Security said it was ending TPS for Haitians on September 2 and encouraged those who were living in the United States under the program to return home. Former president Joe Biden extended TPS for Haitians before leaving office, allowing them to reside in the United States until February 2026. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But the Trump administration announced in February that it was canceling the extension. It said on Friday it was terminating TPS for Haitians altogether on September 2. 'The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home,' DHS said. Permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to US national interest, it added. Struck by a devastating earthquake in 2010, Haiti has suffered from political instability for decades and more recently from increasing violence by armed groups. The US State Department currently advises Americans not to travel to Haiti 'due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest and limited heath care.' President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history and curb immigration, mainly from Latin American nations. Trump ordered a review of the TPS program on his return to the White House and his administration has revoked TPS protections for Afghans and Venezuelans in addition to Haitians. During his campaign Trump made baseless claims that an Ohio city had seen a recent influx of Haitian migrants who were stealing and eating residents' cats and dogs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A UN human rights expert called on the United States and other nations in March not to expel Haitians back to their violence-plagued country. William O'Neill, a UN-designated expert on human rights in Haiti, said deporting people back there would be unsafe. 'Violent criminal groups continue to extend and consolidate their hold beyond the capital,' O'Neill said. 'They kill, rape, terrorize, set fire to homes, orphanages, schools, hospitals, places of worship, recruit children and infiltrate all spheres of society.'
India Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- India Today
Trump orders end to special immigration protections for half-million Haitians
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it is terminating legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, setting them up for potential said that conditions in Haiti have improved and Haitians no longer meet the conditions for the temporary legal termination of temporary protected status, or TPS, applies to about 500,000 Haitians who are already in the United States, some of whom have lived here for more than a decade. It comes three months after the Trump administration revoked legal protections for thousands of Haitians who arrived legally in the country under a humanitarian parole program, and it is part of a series of measures implemented to curb Recently, the US Supreme Court overturned a federal judge's order preventing the administration from revoking the parole allows people already in the United States to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. Immigrants from 17 countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon, were receiving those protections before President Donald Trump took office for his second term in Trump is ending protections and programs for immigrants as part of his mass deportations promises. During his political campaign he said his administration would scale back the use of TPS, which covered more than 1 million immigrants. His campaign highlighted unfounded claims that Haitians who live and work legally in Springfield, Ohio, as TPS holders were eating their neighbors' of thousands of Venezuelans and some Afghans have been told already that they're losing their TPS of the Haitians who benefit from TPS have requested asylum or other lawful immigration status that could protect them from deportation, although it is not clear how many could be left without any relief.'This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,' a DHS spokesperson said. 'The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.'The Department of State, nonetheless, has not changed its travel advisory and still recommends Americans 'do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.'Temporary protected status for Haitians expires on Aug. 3, and the termination will be effective on Sept. 2, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem advised TPS holders to return to Haiti using a mobile application called CBP violence has displaced 1.3 million people across Haiti as the local government and international community struggle to contain an spiralling crisis, according to a recent report from the International Organisation for Migration. The report warned of a 24 per cent increase in displaced people since December, with gunmen having chased 11per cent of Haiti's nearly 12 million inhabitants from their people back to these conditions is a death sentence for many, stripping them of their fundamental right to safety and dignity,' said Tessa Pettit, a Haitian-American who is executive director of the Florida Immigrant Desir, 36, has been in the US since 2022 on asylum, but he says he is concerned by the Trump administration's decision to terminate TPS.'You see your friends who used to go to work every day, and suddenly—without being sick or fired—they just can't go anymore. It hits you. Even if it hasn't happened to you yet, you start to worry, 'What if it's me next?''Desir says his asylum court date was set for this year, but the judge rescheduled it for lives in Springfield, Ohio, with his wife and two children, and he works in a car parts manufacturing plant.- Ends
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
White House ending protected status for Haitian migrants, sparking fears in Massachusetts
The department set a Sept. 2 termination date for Haitians living in the country under temporary protected status. (The program ends Aug. 3 but officially takes effect Sept. 2). Protected status shields immigrants from deportation and grants them work permits. It is reserved for people fleeing countries in upheaval. 'This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,' a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. 'The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.' Advertisement In Massachusetts, Haitians are one of the state's largest immigrant populations. The local Haitian community and advocates for them decried President Trump's undoing of the protections. Pastor Dieufort Fleurissaint, a Haitian community advocate known by his nickname, Pastor Keke, said there was 'consternation' in Boston's Haitian community Friday evening as word spread. 'Everyone is calling to ask what's going to happen to their future here, to their employment, to the future of their children,' he said in a telephone interview. Fleurissaint said the conditions in Haiti have not improved as federal officials have suggested. Advertisement 'You have a humanitarian collapse,' he said. 'The decision today will leave returning Haitian citizens at very high risk of persecution, danger, homelessness. People have nowhere to go.' Fleurissaint said he was still processing the news himself. 'The only hope we have is God,' he said. 'God and to call upon our friends and allies, elected officials, to advocate on our behalf, so these families can be protected and find a way to enact permanent solutions.' Haitians were granted temporary protected status after the island nation suffered a devastating earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010. The designation has been extended several times. President Joe Biden extended it until 2026 right before he left office. Ruthzee Louijeune, 'It is also bad for our economy,' she said. 'Haitian health care workers with TPS helped our country get through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, often to the detriment of their own bodies and families," she said. 'Anyone who states that country conditions have improved in Haiti is actively and affirmatively lying,' she said. Representative Ayanna Pressley condemned the DHS decision on social media as 'an act of policy violence that could literally be a death sentence.' 'We should NOT be deporting anyone to a nation still dealing with a grave humanitarian crisis like Haiti,' Pressley wrote on Heather Yountz, senior immigration staff attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, said, 'This is a heartbreaking example of the Trump administration stripping people of their legal status without a justified reason simply to fulfill the harmful mass deportations he promised.' Advertisement The idea that the gang-ridden country which hasn't seen an election in nearly a decade is safer 'is preposterous,' Yountz said. After a review of the conditions in Haiti from US Citizenship and Immigration Services and in consultation with the US Department of State, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem determined that Haitians no longer meet the requirements for TPS, Friday's statement said. The agency encouraged Haitians who don't have another means of gaining lawful status after their TPS status expires to self-deport, and use the US Customs and Border Protection app to report themselves leaving the country. Despite DHS's claims that Haitians could return home 'safely,' dozens of Haitians interviewed by the Globe in the past year have said that they would be unable to go back to Haiti without the threat of violence and severe economic instability back in their country. The State Department also cautions US citizens not to visit Haiti, The In Massachusetts, immigration advocates had been preparing for this moment since the Trump administration announced back in February that it would revoke the Biden extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants. 'We've been expecting this,' said Sarang Sekhavat, the Chief of Staff at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. 'But it's horrible regardless.' Advertisement Some TPS holders have lived in Massachusetts for more than a decade after fleeing the aftermath of the earthquake, severe gang violence, and political turmoil. In 2021, the country's president was assassinated. 'It's not like the situation in Haiti has gotten better,' Sekhavat said. Sekhavat said that MIRA and its partners have been encouraging Haitians here under TPS to consult with attorneys, to see what kinds of options might be available to them. Some may have other means to stay in the country legally, like applying for asylum, or if they have US relatives or employers who could petition for their legal status. But, Sekhavat said, 'unfortunately, there's not a blanket answer for these folks.' Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, The group said that DHS's assertions that conditions in Haiti have improved are 'simply false.' 'Haiti is experiencing unprecedented political violence, instability, and humanitarian collapse. Even the U.S. State Department warns Americans not to travel there — yet DHS insists Haitian families can safely return? That contradiction is indefensible,' the statement said. 'We are not backing down. We will use every legal tool at our disposal to stop this cruel and unlawful termination,' the statement added. Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio can be reached at
CBS News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Haitians fear overcrowding, limited resources as DHS announces end of TPS
South Floridians react to U.S. plans to revoke immigration status of Haitian migrants in September South Floridians react to U.S. plans to revoke immigration status of Haitian migrants in September South Floridians react to U.S. plans to revoke immigration status of Haitian migrants in September Hours after the Department of Homeland Security announced it will officially end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians living in the United States, residents in northern Haiti expressed deep concern about the impact of returning migrants. In Cap-Haitien, the news spread quickly, dominating conversations across the city. The streets of downtown were crowded Friday afternoon as people continued their daily routines amid a tense and uncertain atmosphere. Concerns over infrastructure, healthcare, and housing The city, already straining from a growing population of people fleeing gang violence in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, may now face a fresh influx. One Haitian man voiced alarm at the possibility. "We gotta deal with the gang situation and the humanitarian [situation]," said Virme Wilmond. "All those people need food. We don't have health care. How are we going to receive all those people? That's going to be a real problem, I can tell you." Visitors also note lack of progress Robin Nash, a visitor from Los Angeles, noted worsening conditions in the city. "There's already a housing problem here right now and if you saw downtown Cap, there's nothing but trash," she said. "I'm thinking of the deepest darkest ghetto." According to CBS News Miami, Nash said this was her second trip to Haiti and that she had not seen improvement since her last visit. TPS termination set for September 2 DHS Secretary Kristy Noem said in a statement that the decision to terminate TPS aligns with the original intent of the program, noting that conditions in Haiti had improved. She added that allowing Haitians to remain in the U.S. would be "contrary to the national interest." Two flights departing from Miami were reported full, with some passengers permanently relocating to Haiti. The TPS designation ends August 3, with termination effective September 2. Without legal intervention, hundreds of thousands of Haitians currently living in the United States could lose their protected status that day.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Iranian woman, who has lived in US for 47 years, taken by Ice while gardening
A 64-year-old Iranian woman, who has lived in the US for 47 years, was detained by immigration agents on Sunday morning while gardening outside her home in New Orleans. According to a witness, plainclothes officers in unmarked vehicles handcuffed Madonna 'Donna' Kashanian and transported her to a Mississippi jail before transferring her to the South Louisiana Ice processing center in Basile, reports Nola. Kashanian arrived in the US in 1978 on a student visa and later applied for asylum, citing fears of persecution due to her father's ties to the US-backed Shah of Iran. Her asylum request was ultimately denied, but she was granted a stay of removal on the condition she comply with immigration requirements, a condition her family says she always met. She has no criminal record but remains in Ice custody. The timing of Kashanian's detention came just hours after US airstrikes in Iran. Federal officials did not comment on her specific case, though the DHS released a statement highlighting the arrests of 11 Iranians nationwide over the weekend, according to Nola. Kashanian had moved to New Orleans as a teenager and built a life over four decades. She often shared Persian recipes on YouTube and was active in her daughter's schools. Her family said Kashanian had long feared deportation, especially after Trump's election. She attempted to adjust her status through marriage to a US citizen, but was denied due to a past marriage the government deemed fraudulent. Neighbors told Nola that Kashanian's arrest lasted less than a minute. Later that day, she briefly called her family during processing. The family didn't hear from her again until Tuesday. Since then, her husband and daughter have been scrambling to find legal help, a challenging task due to the high number of detainees and limited immigration attorneys in Louisiana. Ice also arrested two Iranian LSU students in Baton Rouge at their off-campus apartment earlier this week. Last week, Ice announced that they arrested 84 people during a raid at a south-west Louisiana racetrack. Of the 84, Ice said 'at least two' had criminal records. Statistics from early June, previously reported on by the Guardian, demonstrated an 807% increase in arrests of people without criminal histories since before Donald Trump's second inauguration this January. Data suggests Ice is holding about 59,000 detainees in facilities across the country.
