Trump cannot end protections for 350,000 Haitians, US appeals court rules

March 7 (Reuters) - A divided U.S. appeals court has refused to let the Trump administration revoke legal protections that allow more than 350,000 Haitians to live and ​work in the U.S. and avoid being returned to their gang-violence-stricken country.

A 2-1 ‌panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit late on Friday rejected, opens new tab the administration’s bid to pause a February 2 ruling that blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland ​Security from ending Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status.

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TPS is a humanitarian program that shields ​eligible migrants from deportation and allows them to work.

Under outgoing Homeland ⁠Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the department has moved to end TPS for a dozen ​countries as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, arguing the program was never ​intended to serve as a “de facto amnesty.”

The administration had asked the D.C. Circuit to stay U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes’ February order while it appeals. Her decision came in a class-action lawsuit brought by ​Haitians seeking to prevent DHS from exposing them to deportation.

Reyes found that Noem’s November ​move to end the Haitians’ legal protections likely violated TPS termination procedures and the U.S. Constitution’s ‌Fifth ⁠Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.

The administration on appeal noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had twice allowed it to end TPS for Venezuelans.

But U.S. Circuit Judges Florence Pan and Brad Garcia, both appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, distinguished the cases ​and said Haitians sent ​home would “be vulnerable ⁠to violence amid a ‘collapsing rule of law’ and lack access to life-sustaining medical care.”

U.S. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, ​dissented, saying the case and the earlier Supreme Court litigation involving ​Venezuelans were “the ⁠legal equivalent of fraternal, if not identical, twins.”

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Haitians were first granted TPS in 2010 after a devastating earthquake. The U.S. has ⁠repeatedly renewed ​the designation, most recently under the Biden administration ​in July 2024.

At that time, DHS cited Haiti’s “simultaneous economic, security, political, and health crises”, driven by gangs and ​the absence of a functioning government.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston. Editing by Mark Potter

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Nate Raymond

Thomson Reuters

Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at nate.raymond@thomsonreuters.com.

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