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.'
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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.
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'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.'
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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.'
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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
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