Update: A federal judge ruled Tuesday afternoon that the Department of Homeland Security’s actions to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians early was unlawful. The judge’s ruling restores the original expiration date for TPS for Haitians on Feb. 3, 2026.

The Department of Homeland Security is attempting to terminate immigration protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the United States in a move that clears the way for possible deportations. About 4,000 Haitians live in Minnesota; the number under the immigration protection is unclear.

President Donald Trump’s administration is ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for about 500,000 Haitians, DHS announced June 27. Many Haitians have had TPS, which allows people to stay and work in the United States if their country is considered unsafe, since a massive earthquake struck the island nation in 2010. The 18-month designation has been renewed several times due to lack of political and economic stability in Haiti.

Djenane Saint Juste, a Haitian artist who lives in Minnesota, has had TPS since 2010. She came to California on a tourist visa before the January 2010 earthquake, and moved to Minnesota with her mother and son in 2014.

Saint Juste, 46, has been expecting the administration to terminate TPS for Haitians, but is frustrated by the news. Her work permit will expire August 3, and Haitians have been told to leave the country by September 2. But her life is here, and she hasn’t been to her home country in more than 15 years.

“I don’t have a house in Haiti. Where am I going to live in Haiti?” Saint Juste said.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has said conditions in Haiti no longer meet TPS requirements.

“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,” said a DHS spokesperson. “The environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.”

But Haiti remains in a state of civil unrest. The nation currently has no president, hasn’t held elections in years and gangs control wide swaths of Port-au-Prince, the capital city. The conditions are bad and signal the Trump administration’s commitment to ending TPS whether home countries are safe or not, according to Minnesota immigration attorney David Wilson.

The government has moved to end TPS designations for Venezuelans and Afghans since Trump took office in January for a second term.

“Frankly, this is one of the worst decisions this administration could make,” Wilson said.

The government’s message about safety in Haiti is conflicting, Saint Juste said. The State Department evacuated embassy workers in Haiti in 2024 and currently advises Americans not to travel there for fear of kidnapping and civil unrest. The Trump administration also included Haiti in its 2025 travel ban, which prohibits people from 12 countries entering the United States on visas over security concerns.

“It’s very funny how the administration decides when things are safe and when things are not safe,” Saint Juste said.

Many Haitians living in the United States have been working to get off TPS for years, Wilson said. Some have applied for asylum or legal permanent residency. Those applying for asylum now could find temporary relief, but should be cautious, Wilson said. If Haitians living under TPS haven’t started applying for another way to stay in the country by now, it could be too late. And if people fail to get asylum, they can be denied future access to the United States for the rest of their lives.

“Asylum is not meant to be a catchall,” Wilson said.

David Policard runs Vanse, a nonprofit that helps new Haitian immigrants in Minnesota. The situation in Haiti is only getting worse, he said.

Many Haitians are too afraid to go home, Policard said. His mother recently had to flee her home in Port-au-Prince because warring gangs were shooting at each other in her neighborhood.

Some Haitians in Minnesota are already planning to return, he said. One told Policard they plan to return to Haiti in October after hearing about the move to end TPS, he said. Others are looking for ways to stay covertly by taking cash jobs and renting rooms instead of having permanent addresses, Policard said.

“Some are going underground,” he said.

‘We followed the process’

The government rejected Saint Juste’s green card application last year, more than a decade after she applied for her and her son. Her father is a U.S. citizen, and he sponsored their application. She hired lawyers and spent countless hours on paperwork.

Saint Juste said she was denied because she overstayed her tourist visa when she came to the United States in 2009. But she had a good reason: a catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010 and she couldn’t return. When the United States launched its TPS program shortly afterward, she applied right away and was accepted. Now she and her son, who is now 21 and hasn’t been to Haiti since he was a small child, could be sent back.

“We’ve been here since 2010, and we followed the process. We did everything. I don’t have any criminal background. I pay my taxes… but everything we do doesn’t feel enough,” Saint Juste said.

She’s lived under TPS for years, often having to stop work for a month or two when the program for Haitians had gaps between renewal dates. She fears that limbo period will hit again come August, and doesn’t want to have to live off the charity of friends, neighbors and students.

Saint Juste and her mother run Afoutayi, a nonprofit that performs and teaches Haitian and Afro-Caribbean music and dance. The TPS termination means they can’t accept contracts for classes or performances after August 3, because they won’t have permission to work. The organization has been doing well this year, but now all that is at risk, she said.

Job loss is the first consequence of ending TPS, Wilson said.

The biggest issue for many Haitians is not knowing what comes next, Policard said. The current TPS term for Haitians was set to expire in February 2026; DHS aimed to cut that short, and announced work permits would expire in August. He’s heard from people whose employers are already nervous about keeping them on the payroll.

“We have so many people who have been let go from work already,” Policard said.

The move to terminate TPS for Haitians is almost certain to be challenged in court, Wilson said, and conditions could change through the courts.

“In immigration, two months is forever,” he said.

In May, DHS announced a program that encourages people whose legal status has expired to schedule their self-deportations through the Customs and Border Protection Home app. The government says it will help cover travel costs and give a $1,000 stipend to people who leave.

Saint Juste said she has too much invested here. Who will pay off her mortgage if she’s deported? What will happen to the businesses Haitians in the United States have started, she wonders.

“I am going to go to the airport and do what with $1,000?” she said. “This needs to stop… They need to start respecting human beings.”

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