ICE Plans Crackdown on Haitian Migrants After Court Ruling Ends Protections

More than 300,000 Haitian immigrants are about to lose their legal right to live and work in the United States. A program called Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, shielded them from being deported. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Trump administration can end TPS for Haitians, and that ruling is now set to take full effect. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, is reportedly getting ready to arrest and deport some of those people as soon as this week.

Reports from Fox News and CBS News, which cite unnamed government sources, say ICE could launch these expanded operations very soon. Ohio is said to be a major target, especially the city of Springfield. In 2024, President Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitian migrants in Springfield were eating residents' pets — a claim that was proven to be untrue.

It is still unclear how large or aggressive the ICE campaign will be. Haiti's top migration official told local media that weekly deportation flights carrying about 250 people should be expected. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, told CBS News that it does not comment on ongoing or future operations, but added that people could receive a $2,600 check and a free flight home if they leave voluntarily.

Haitian TPS holders play a big role in the U.S. economy. An immigration advocacy group called FWD.us says about 200,000 Haitian TPS holders are currently working in the U.S. They include 15,000 farm workers, 13,000 nursing assistants, and thousands more in other jobs. Losing all of these workers at once could cause serious problems for many industries across the country.

TPS is a program that has existed since 1990. It lets people from countries with very dangerous conditions — like wars, earthquakes, or disease outbreaks — live and work legally in the U.S. for a limited time. Haiti first received TPS in 2010, after a massive earthquake killed more than 300,000 people and forced over a million others to leave their homes. Since then, Haiti has stayed on the TPS list, even as different presidents extended or tried to cut the program.

During his first term, President Trump tried to end TPS for Haiti, but courts blocked him. When President Biden took office, he renewed and extended those protections. Now, in his second term, Trump's DHS moved to end TPS for Haiti and several other countries, including Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Yemen. Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem argued that conditions in these countries had improved and that keeping TPS going was against the national interest.

But the State Department — another part of the U.S. government — says Haiti is still very dangerous. As of July 10, the State Department has its highest-level travel warning for Haiti, telling Americans not to go there. An estimated 26 armed gangs control about 90 percent of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and the surrounding areas. A state of national emergency has been in place since 2024 because of the widespread gang violence.

The violence has forced nearly 1.5 million people inside Haiti to flee their homes. More than half of those people are women and girls, according to the International Organization for Migration. Many Haitians in the U.S. fear being sent back to these dangerous conditions, and say losing their jobs and legal status would turn their lives upside down.

Not every Republican supports the plan to deport Haitian TPS holders. In April, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that would require Haiti to be put back on the TPS list until early 2029. Ten Republicans voted with Democrats to pass it. The bill is now in the Senate, where the most recent attempt to move it forward was blocked on July 22 by Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri.

Even if the bill passes the Senate, the White House has said President Trump's advisers would recommend that he veto it, meaning he would refuse to sign it into law. Representative Carlos Gimenez of Florida, a Republican, told CBS News that while Haiti is a 'failed state,' he believes sending Haitians back there right now 'would be a huge mistake.' His words show the deep disagreement within the Republican Party over this issue.

New DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who took over the job in March, has defended the decision to end Haiti's TPS. He told CNN in June that Haitian TPS holders have 'had plenty of time' to find other legal ways to stay in the U.S. When asked whether Haiti was safe enough for people to return to, Mullin said the State Department's travel warning was written with American tourists in mind, not Haitian nationals. He also said the U.S. is a very generous country but does not want people to 'take advantage of it.'