With his ratings plummeting, Trump is ramping up deportations to make good on his promises to his rabidly anti-immigrant and xenophobic base. Recent Supreme Court decisions have paved the way for the current administration to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from hundreds of thousands of people. The racism fueling this onslaught is without apology, and Haitians find themselves foremost in the crosshairs.
TPS was made law in 1990 in order to offer a place for people fleeing extreme hardship caused by civil war, environmental disaster and other extraordinary circumstances. According to the Congressional Research Service, early in 2025 there were 1.297 million TPS participants from 17 countries. Trump now wants to empty the U.S. of all of them, including over 330,000 Haitians. Many of them had sought relief when Haiti was devastated in 2010 by an earthquake.
The callousness of the White House is appalling. Markwayne Mullen, the Secretary of Homeland Security, suggested that people “self deport” by taking a check for $2,100 and a plane ticket “home.” In the case of Haitians, that means going to a country for which the Department of State has issued a Do Not Travel warning.
In states like Maryland, Ohio, Florida and New York, Haitians are an important part of the community and the economy. They work in hotels, construction and hospitality. They are farmworkers and caregivers.
Springfield, Ohio, has been home to 15,000 Haitians, the ones whom Trump slandered in the 2024 debate, saying they were eating their neighbors’ pets. Now, the same victims of the president’s despicable lie are being fitted with ankle bracelets in order to track them like criminals. Monsanto Maler, who came to the U.S. in 2023, collapsed in despair after being shackled.
The real crime of these policies is the human cost. Working people, not accused of any wrongdoing, are being abused. Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Springfield resident and honor student, was so overwhelmed with shame by the ankle bracelet and fear of deportation to Haiti that he took his own life. These are the real consequences of Trump’s policies.
The inhumanity of it all is rallying people to action. In Ohio, faith-based groups are organizing to support their immigrant neighbors, coworkers and friends. Politicians like Governor Hochul of New York are calling for the reinstatement of TPS. A handful of U.S. senators have put forward S4814 to extend TPS for Haitians until after January 2029.
Join with immigrant solidarity demos in your area and tell your senator to pass S4814. No human being is temporary or illegal!
ICE, the U.S. version of the Gestapo, is specifically targeting people of color. The most powerful are brutalizing the most defenseless.
— John Roberge, NH-based Haitian Creole translator for ICE detainees
