DHS Ends Temporary Protected Status for About 300,000 Haitians as the July 27 Deadline Arrives

Temporary Protected Status for Haitians was expected to lapse on July 27, 2026, ending deportation protection and work authorization for about 300,000 people in the United States. The Supreme Court sided with the administration in June in its effort to end the Haitian and Syrian TPS programs, and the binding mandate was set to issue to the lower courts that Monday; an appeals court had held the Haitian program in place only through July 27. Immigrants whose TPS lapses immediately lose the ability to work legally and become eligible to be arrested and processed for removal unless they hold another status, though those without removal orders are generally entitled to appear before an immigration judge first.

Haiti has had a TPS designation in some form since the 2010 earthquake. Its termination is the largest single rollback in the administration's effort to wind down TPS programs, and it applies to a population whose home country the State Department advises Americans not to visit under any circumstances because of gang violence.

A federal district judge found in February that the move to end the program was 'in part' rooted in 'racial animus'; the Supreme Court held in June that federal law bars judges from reviewing TPS determinations and found the cited remarks not 'overtly racial.' Immigration advocates say shifting deadlines have left holders, their families and their employers without a settled answer.