Federal Government Grants Temporary Protected Status to More Than 300,000 Haitians

Haitians gather outside the U.S. Embassy after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on July 9, 2021. (Estailove St-Val/Reuters)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on June 28 that more than 300,000 Haitians already in the United States would be given temporary legal status through Feb. 3, 2026.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas determined that an extension and redesignation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was warranted due to ongoing “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

Applications for temporary legal status will be opened on July 1 to an estimated 309,000 additional Haitian nationals and individuals the DHS identifies as “having no nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti” who have been in the United States before or since June 3.

They will also be able to apply for employment authorization and travel authorization.

Extensions of TPS will be granted to more than 200,000 Haitians whose status was scheduled to expire on Aug. 3, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Created by Congress in 1990, TPS can be granted to citizens from countries experiencing natural disasters or civil strife. It does not offer a path to permanent residency status or citizenship but it is renewable for designated periods of time.

Haiti was in the headlines earlier this year when gang violence erupted in and around its capital, Port-au-Prince. It necessitated the evacuation of U.S. citizens and caused concern for Florida officials that an influx of displaced persons could be on its way.

A report published on June 18 by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said more than half a million Haitians had been displaced and were seeking refuge in provinces that lacked the resources to support them. About 54 percent of them are female, and 52 percent are children.

The report also stated that from March to June this year, all areas of the country are either in Phase 3 (Crisis) or Phase 4 (Emergency), indicating “the severity of the food security situation in the country.”

DHS issued a statement that Mr. Mayorkas based his decision on the fact that, because Haiti “often experiences significant damage due to storms, flooding, and earthquakes,” ongoing challenges persist from gang violence and food insecurities.

“We are providing this humanitarian relief to Haitians already present in the United States given the conditions that existed in their home country as of June 3, 2024,” said Mr. Mayorkas. “In doing so, we are realizing the core objective of the TPS law and our obligation to fulfill it.”

As of March 31, more than 860,000 foreign nationals in the United States were protected under TPS. In addition to Haiti, they hail from 16 countries on five continents, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Nepal, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.

That protection is set to expire for 555 Somalis on Sept. 17 and 1,840 Yemenis on Sept. 3. The others will remain protected through the November election and the start of 2025.

The announcement follows other moves the Biden administration has made to open pathways to residency for immigrants while allowing them to stay in the United States. Included is the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) asylum program, which officials confirmed brings in 30,000 people per month, and the CBP One app, which accounts for 1,400 people per day.

President Joe Biden also recently announced a new program that would provide protection from deportation for approximately 500,000 illegal immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens and another 50,000 who are children of a person married to a U.S. citizen. As long as they have lived in the United States for at least 10 years as of June 17, they will be able to stay in the United States while applying for legal status.