Overview:
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully in attempting to shorten the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) period for Haitians, reinstating the original end date of February 2026 and calling for further review.
This is a developing story.
A federal judge on Monday blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) attempt to cut short Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS), ruling the agency lacked authority to end the protections ahead of schedule and failed to follow proper legal procedures.
The decision restores the TPS designation for Haiti through Feb. 3, 2026, reversing a move by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that would have ended protections for tens of thousands of Haitians five months earlier, on Aug. 3.
In a 23-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan wrote that Noem’s so-called “partial vacatur” of the TPS extension violated federal law, which explicitly lays out how and when a designation may be reviewed or ended. The court found that Noem’s February decision to shorten the TPS period bypassed those statutory steps and therefore must be set aside.
“Secretary Noem cannot reconsider Haiti’s TPS designation in a way that takes effect before February 3, 2026, the expiration of the most recent previous extension,” Cogan wrote.
The plaintiffs in the case include Haitian TPS holders and organizations like the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association and SEIU Local 32BJ, which argued the shortened timeline created immediate and irreparable harm. Many had planned their lives around the previously announced expiration date in 2026, enrolling children in school, receiving medical care, and securing jobs based on their protected status.
“This is a huge victory for 500,000 Haitians who faced an Aug. 3 deadline for losing work authorization and exposure to the administration’s deportation machinery, including ICE raids, detention in inhumane conditions in the US or elsewhere, and eventual deportation to horrific conditions in Haiti,” Brian Concannon, executive director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, said to The Haitian Times.
Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU, praised the ruling and highlighted the role of union members Gerald Michaud and his wife, Nadège, in the case.
“We are proud to have represented our Haitian members and the broader Haitian community – and we are grateful to our union brother, Gerald Michaud, and his wife Nadége, for leading the way,” said Pastreich in a statement. “ We will keep fighting for the rights of our members and all immigrants against the Trump administration – in the streets, in the workplace, and in the courts as well.”
Under Cogan’s order, the court also granted a motion to postpone any impact of Noem’s action while the broader lawsuit proceeds. The government’s effort to dismiss the case was denied in part, with the court ordering plaintiffs to show why their other claims—alleging due process and equal protection violations—shouldn’t be dismissed as moot.
Haiti was first granted TPS after the 2010 earthquake, and its designation has been repeatedly extended amid ongoing instability, natural disasters, and political crises.
Noem’s decision came despite DHS re-extending Haiti’s TPS in July 2024 due to widespread violence, economic collapse, and a deadly cholera outbreak. The attempt to reverse course within months of that decision was seen by advocates as arbitrary and abrupt.
For now, the ruling secures protection for thousands of Haitian nationals in the U.S., offering a temporary reprieve amid growing uncertainty about U.S. immigration policy and Haiti’s future.
“Today, the rule of law held,” said Concannon. “But the administration will continue to test both the rule of law and basic facts by insisting that conditions in Haiti have improved enough for Haitians to return safely.”