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‘Kiss of death': South Florida reacts to end of Haiti's Temporary Protected Status
Nadine Mallebranche was only five years old when her family fled the political upheaval of Francois 'Baby Doc' Duvalier's Haiti in the late 1980s.
In the United States, the Mallebranche family found safety. After her parents died when she was 13, Mallebranche bounced from foster home to foster home. Social workers tried to help her with her immigration case, but it fell through the cracks, she said. She remained unsure of her legal status for decades.
Everything changed for Mallebranche when Haitians were granted deportation protections and work permits under Temporary Protected Status. For the last 15 years, she has not had to fear being sent back to a country she doesn't remember. She could legally work as a store supervisor.
'It was a lifeline,' she told the Miami Herald.
But on Friday, Mallebranche, now 45, learned that the Trump administration is ending TPS for over half-a-million Haitians living in the United States. Come this fall, she could be forced to return to a gang-ridden Caribbean country struggling with record hunger and political instability.
'I'm facing potential deportation to a country that is overrun by criminal gangs,' said Mallebranche. 'The only home that I know is the United States.'
In the first six months of 2025, extreme violence in Haiti killed about 2,700 people . Sexual violence and kidnappings are rampant. Almost 1.3 million people are internally displaced and 5.7 million people face acute hunger.
READ MORE: Trump ends TPS for Haitians. More than a half-million people now face deportation
But a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said on Friday that 'the environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home' — even as the State Department warns Americans to not travel there at all because of kidnapping, civil unrest, limited healthcare, and extreme gang violence. This week, the agency urged Americans to 'depart as soon as possible.'
Litigation challenging the termination of Haiti's TPS is very likely. But the Trump administration's decision to end TPS has sent shock waves through South Florida, the heart of the Haitian diaspora in the United States. Over 300,000 Haitians call the Miami metro area home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly 511,000 live in Florida.
In South Florida, advocates and community leaders condemned Homeland Security's decision on Friday, calling it a dangerous and wicked policy that threatens the lives of Haitians if they are forced to return there.
'Deporting Haitians back to Haiti is a kiss of death,' said U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, the federal lawmaker who represents Miami. 'This news is insanity on steroids, and it is heartbreaking to my community. We cannot send anymore people back to Haiti. This ruling is hateful, inhumane and heartless.'
The Florida Immigrant Coalition said in a statement that 'Haiti is not in any shape to sustain human dignity and life, and any suggestion to the contrary is nothing but lies.'
'Forcing Haitians to return to Haiti right now is not just morally indefensible, it is a humanitarian catastrophe,' said Tessa Petit, the Haitian-born director of the coalition.
One Haitian TPS holder who asked not to be named condemned the decision and emphasized the contribution of Haitian immigrants to the United States.
'These are the hands that heal you, feed you, teach your children, and serve your communities. Revoking Haitian TPS is not policy, it's humane and economic sabotage. You don't get to call people essential when it benefits you, then disposable when it doesn't,' she said.
Others, like the Board of the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce in Florida, shared messages of support to those affected, which includes many Haitian families where status for different members ranges from undocumented to U.S. citizenship.
'Our community's strength has always been rooted in resilience, unity, and the pursuit of opportunity. We will continue to stand together in that spirit,' said the coalition in a statement.
Homeland Security said in Friday's announcement of the termination that it 'encouraged' Haitians to self-deport. Some Haitians have previously told the Herald that they would rather risk immigration detention in the United States than return to Haiti.
As part of a widespread crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has ended humanitarian protections for immigrants from countries in turmoil, like Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti. The previous administration granted an 18-month extension of the protections in January, following a country review, because conditions in Haiti are so dangerous.
Current Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rolled back the year-and-a half-long extension, a decision that is being litigated in federal courts. On Friday, the agency ended Haiti's TPS altogether. The TPS designation expires on Aug. 3, and the termination kicks into effect a month later, on Sept. 2.
'This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,' the DHS spokesperson said.
Congress created TPS in 1990 as a way to grant deportation protections and work permits to people who are already in the United States and cannot return home to countries navigating war, conflict or natural disasters. The secretary of Homeland Security can designate a country for TPS, and periodically conduct a review to determine whether conditions warrant extensions of current designations or expansions that can include more people under the protections.
Large swaths of Haiti, including about 90% of its capital Port-au-Prince, are under the control of criminal gangs that terrorize the population. The country is as dangerous for children as the Gaza Strip, according to a recent UN report. A lack of basic necessities, a government in collapse and a crumbling healthcare system make life extremely difficult for people in the country, which has not held elections since 2016.
Mallebranche cannot imagine returning to a country in turmoil, a homeland where she hasn't stepped foot in decades. She hasn't told loved ones yet she might be deported.
'This is infuriating, not only for me, but every other person that this is now happening to. What are we supposed to do?'
