A federal judge on Monday paused the planned end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians in the United States, delivering a legal setback to the Trump administration’s wider immigration agenda.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington granted a motion to enjoin the termination while a lawsuit challenging the decision moves forward, saying the termination that had been set to take effect this week “shall be null, void, and of no legal effect.” In an 83‑page opinion, Reyes said the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits and found it “substantially likely” that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem preordained her decision because of “hostility to nonwhite immigrants.”
“We can breathe for a little bit,” said Rose‑Thamar Joseph, operations director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Ohio, where faith leaders and community members had gathered earlier Monday in prayer and solidarity.
Reyes wrote that Noem did not have “unbounded discretion” and was required to consult with other agencies when assessing conditions in Haiti. The judge pointed to Noem’s own remarks three days after announcing the end of Haitian protections, when she called for travel restrictions from Haiti and “every damn country that has been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” as evidence suggesting racial animus.
The Department of Homeland Security criticized the ruling. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called it “lawless activism,” and argued that Haiti’s TPS was originally granted after the 2010 earthquake and was never intended to become a “de facto amnesty program.” In court filings earlier, the government said claims of racial animus relied on statements taken out of context and that Noem provided “reasoned, facially sufficient explanations” for her determinations, noting some positive developments in Haiti including authorization of a multinational force to combat gangs.
TPS allows the Homeland Security secretary to permit nationals of countries beset by disasters, armed conflict or other dangerous conditions to live and work in the U.S. without being returned home. It does not create a path to citizenship. Haiti’s TPS was first activated after the catastrophic 2010 earthquake and has been extended repeatedly as the country has continued to suffer from political instability and widespread gang violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
The Trump administration has moved to terminate TPS for multiple nationalities, exposing hundreds of thousands to possible deportation as part of a broader effort to sharply reduce the number of migrants in the U.S. In addition to Haitians, Noem has ended protections for about 600,000 Venezuelans; roughly 60,000 people from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal; more than 160,000 Ukrainians; and thousands from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Several of those moves are the subject of pending legal challenges.
Attorneys for Haitian TPS holders warned in court filings that allowing the termination to stand would have catastrophic human consequences. “If the termination stands, people will almost certainly die,” lawyers wrote in December, saying some could be killed, others could die from disease or starve. They argued Noem failed to consider whether an ongoing armed conflict in Haiti posed a “serious threat” to personal safety, as required by statute, and that racial animus motivated the decision.
Local Haitian leaders and congregations have expressed deep fear and uncertainty. In Springfield, Ohio — a city of about 59,000 with a Haitian community of roughly 15,000 — two dozen faith leaders and hundreds of congregants prayed and sang on Monday in support of Haitian migrants. Jerome Bazard, a member of the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, said returning many community members to Haiti would be perilous. “They can’t go to Haiti because it’s not safe. Without the TPS, they can’t work. And if they can’t work, they can’t eat, they can’t pay bills. You’re killing the people,” he said.
The community in Springfield has faced heightened anxiety since President Trump repeatedly denigrated Haitian immigrants during his 2024 campaign, falsely claiming members of the community ate neighbors’ cats and dogs as he promoted an immigration crackdown. Those comments were followed by bomb threats to schools, government buildings and elected officials’ homes, increasing fears of division and anti‑immigrant hostility in the mostly white, working‑class city.
Many Haitian families are living with acute worry. Some parents who lack legal status have signed caregiver affidavits to designate legal guardians for their U.S. citizen children in case they are detained. Volunteers from nearby towns have been delivering food to families too afraid to leave their homes; others have been stockpiling groceries in anticipation of enforcement actions. Community leaders said they have received desperate calls from relatives abroad urging them to leave the city because it is “not a safe place now for them to stay.”
Advocates welcomed the court’s temporary reprieve but said it is no substitute for stability. “This 11th‑hour reprieve is, of course, welcome. But people can’t live their lives like this, pegging their families’ futures to a court case,” said Lynn Tramonte, executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
How long the injunction will remain in place and what the next legal steps will be were unclear. The case is likely to continue through further briefing and oral argument as plaintiffs press their challenge and the government defends Secretary Noem’s decision.
