Haitians get a brief reprieve on end of TPS: Friday is no longer the last day

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. gave Haitians a temporary reprieve Wednesday from losing their protection from deportation, which had been scheduled to end Friday.

In an order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a Trump administration request that would have ended Temporary Protected Status benefits for Haitians on Friday. Now, the protections cannot be terminated before July 27.

The Trump administration had asked the appeals court to lift a stay by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who had blocked the government from ending TPS for roughly 350,000 Haitians in the United States. The appeals court refused the request.

The three-day delay may not appear to be much, but for Haitians weighing what to do once TPS protections against deportations expire, it provides additional time to make arrangements.

Last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against five Haitian plaintiffs who argued that Trump’s decision to end the legal protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians in the United States was based on racial discrimination. The justices allowed the administration to move forward with the termination of TPS, ruling that the decisions by the Department of Homeland Security on TPS are not subject to judicial review. But lawyers for the Haitians maintained a narrow challenge on constitutional grounds.

Lawyers for the Haitian immigrants had said they were “still evaluating the effects of the Supreme Court’s ruling” and would inform Reyes by July 31 about filing an amended lawsuit.

On Wednesday, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey and Delaware Democratic Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who have introduced a Senate bill extending Haitians’ TPS protections, asked the Senate for unanimous consent to pass the legislation, which has passed with bipartisan support in the House in April. But their effort was blocked by Missouri Republican Eric Schmitt, who accused Democrats of trying to make TPS permanent.

Nevertheless, South Florida elected officials and union leaders continue to urge members of the community to reach out to lawmakers, especially Florida’s two Republican U.S. senators, Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio to have them support the legislation.

The dozens of leaders present at a press conference in North Miami-Dade County argued that the termination of TPS would be detrimental to the local economy and that Haitians would be forced to return to a dangerous country that the State Department’s own travel advisory warns Americans against visiting.

“This is a disgusting moment,” said Martha Baker, a registered nurse and president of the union representing nurse, doctors and healthcare professionals at Jackson Health System. Fighting back tears, she urged residents to continue to pressure lawmakers to protect Haitian TPS holders.

“We must all stand together,” she said. “Call the senators. They need to do their freaking job.”