Trump Admin Also Rescinds TPS Extension For Haitians Who Will Face Deportation To War-Torn Country

The Trump administration on Thursday rescinded the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over half a million Haitians, who will now face deportation to the war-torn country once the protection ends in August.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Thursday that the 18-month extension, announced by former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during the Biden administration, will no longer be in place. That way, TPS for recipients will end in August 3 of 2025 rather than February 3 of next year, the Miami Herald reported.

"We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades. President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem are returning TPS to its original status: Temporary," said a DHS spokeswoman after the decision was announced.

Mayorkas had announced the extension in July 2024, saying the nation was experiencing "simultaneous economic, security, political and health crises."

The situation has not improved since, with the latest reports on the matter showing that gangs continued to make advances in the capital. Gangs are believed to control about 85% of Port-au-Prince at the moment, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres warning in late January that the city could be completely overrun without further international support.

Guterres proposed on Wednesday the UN assume funding for the expenses of the multinational mission in the country, already struggling to fight gangs.

"Gangs are inflicting intolerable suffering on a desperate and frightened people," he said. "We must keep working for a political process owned and led by the Haitians that restores democratic institutions through elections," Guterres said at a meeting of the Caricom, the trade bloc comprised of 15 Caribbean nations where the matter was discussed.

The Trump administration has also ended TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, who could be deported as of April. Advocacy organizations anticipated they are preparing a legal challenge against the decision, which stated that the administration has concluded that Venezuela "no longer continues to meet the conditions" for its 2023 TPS designation.

"The Secretary has determined it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain in the United States," the memo read. Some 350,000 Venezuelans are covered by the 2023 designation, the overall figure for all nationals being over 600,000.