US president, Donald Trump, has cancelled an extension of Temporary Protected Status which was granted to over 500,000 Haitians by his predecessor, president Joe Biden.
America grants Temporary Protected Status, TPS, to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.
The Biden administration had extended it until February 2026 for Haitians.
But that protection will now expire on August 3.
“President Trump and I are returning TPS to its original status: temporary,” Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said in a department statement.
“This is part of President Trump’s promise to rescind policies that were magnets for illegal immigration and inconsistent with the law.
According to the US government’s estimates, the number of Haitians eligible for protection has increased significantly from 57,000 in 2011 to 520,694 in 2024.
The DHS spokesman has said the TPS extension afforded by Biden was “far longer than justified or necessary”.
