Nearly 500,000 Haitians are living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, according to NBC, a status that was initially granted in 2010 following the devastating earthquake that killed nearly 300,000 people. The legal status has been extended several times amid political and security unrest.
In October 2024, during his election campaign in Springfield in Ohio, a month before the election, when asked whether he would revoke the temporary protected status of migrants in an interview with NewsNation, he said, «Absolutely. I’d revoke it, and I’d bring them back [the haitians] to their country.»
Asked in the interview what would happen if Haiti refused to take them in, he replied, «Well, they’re going to receive them, they’ll receive them. If I bring them back, they’re going to receive them,» Trump said without elaborating.
Should be noted that TPS concerns nearly 3 million people and concerns about ten beneficiary countries including Haiti.
For its part, the city of Springfield indicates on its website that approximately 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants live in Clark County, which has a population of approximately 136,000 inhabitants, and that Haitian immigrants are there legally. «Haitian workers play a significant role in Springfield’s economy, filling much-needed jobs,» specifies the city.
On June 28, 2024, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced the extension and redesignation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status for 18 months, from August 4, 2024 to February 3, 2026, due to the extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti.
Let’s recall that under the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security had already actively sought to end TPS for several groups without success, a policy that Trump wants to resume.
However, experts have said that deportations on the scale promised by Trump would face enormous legal challenges in addition to the logistical challenges and considerable costs of such an operation.