The Trump administration is moving to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 330,000 Haitian immigrants, stripping them of legal work authorization and protection from deportation. The decision has sparked fear across communities and industries that rely on these workers, including healthcare, where an estimated 13,000 TPS holders from Haiti work as nursing assistants caring for 65,000 patients daily.
Workers fear loss of livelihood and safety
One nursing home housekeeper with TPS from Haiti, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, described her daily routine: “I get up at 5am every morning and I take two buses to work to clean the rooms of the residents. I give my heart. These residents are like my grandmother.” She added, “I want to stay here in New York where I can be safe and care for my residents. I cannot return to Haiti. It is not safe. I’m afraid that I would be killed if I return.”
The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in June in favor of the administration’s efforts to end TPS for Haitians and Syrians. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has argued that immigrants with TPS should leave the US and seek other legal statuses, despite no direct pathway from TPS to a green card and asylum grant rates under Trump falling below 5%.
Community and economic impact
Roxana Rivera, assistant to the president at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ, which represents thousands of immigrant workers with TPS, said: “The impact is not just for the TPS recipients, but our whole communities.” She called the termination “a racist act from the administration targeting immigrants.” Rivera noted that in the service sector, employers “can’t operate without immigrant workers, and they already have a hard time filling vacancies because of turnover.”
Pierre Etienne, a US citizen with family and friends on TPS, criticized the decision. “I have family members and close friends who are protected under TPS. They left Haiti because their lives were in danger. Armed gangs took over their neighborhoods… They would be returning to a country where many areas remain unsafe.” He added, “Knowing that my loved ones could be placed in harm’s way causes me tremendous fear, stress and anxiety.”
Families face uncertainty and fear
Another Haitian immigrant in New York, who has lived in the US since 2000 and requested anonymity, described how losing TPS upended his life. “The loss of TPS and my work authorization has turned my family’s life upside down. This is where I became an adult, established my life, worked, paid taxes and built my family. I am married, and I am the father of two daughters who were born in the United States.” He said he did everything right—registering, background checks, paying fees—but now faces losing his job while bills remain. “My daughters are Americans, but they now have to live with the possibility that their father may not be allowed to remain with them.”
Administration defends decision
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson claimed conditions in Haiti have improved enough to support returns, despite a US travel advisory warning against travel due to safety concerns and a United Nations warning of ongoing violence. The spokesperson said: “Temporary Protected Status is exactly that – temporary. For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.” A White House spokesperson added that TPS “was never intended to be a pathway to permanent status or legal residency.”
Hateful rhetoric has real consequences
The second Haitian worker also criticized false claims from Trump during his 2024 campaign, including that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. “Haitians should not be judged by stereotypes or used as political targets. We’re human beings, parents, workers, taxpayers, neighbors and members of American communities. When political leaders make degrading or misleading statements about an entire community, those statements have real consequences. They create fear, discrimination, workplace hostility, bullying of Haitian children and sometimes even threats of violence.”
