Nine Haitian Temporary Protected Status workers and the labor union 32BJ SEIU will present arguments Wednesday afternoon in their ongoing lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration over its plan to end deportation protections for Haitian TPS workers in August.
The plaintiffs claim that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s termination of Haiti’s TPS designation violates the TPS statute and the Administrative Procedure Act — posing an “imminent harm” to over 500,000 Haitian TPS holders in the United States. They will argue on Wednesday for partial summary judgment and provisional relief pending a final decision as the government moves to dismiss the lawsuit.
Noem announced in February that the most recent extension of Haiti’s TPS, which was set to expire Feb. 3, 2026, would be shortened by six months, moving up the expiration date to Aug. 3. Until now, the federal government has regularly extended Haiti’s TPS status amid escalating violence in the country.
“This is unconscionable,” 32BJ SEIU President Manny Pastreich said in a Tuesday news release. “What is a parent of a U.S. citizen to do? Take their child to a country experiencing pervasive human rights abuses and extortion, or separate them from their parents? The actions by Secretary Noem are illegal and pose a direct threat to hundreds of thousands of people – and ultimately damage our economy and make our country weaker.”
The federal government may designate countries for TPS if it judges that conditions in a given country would prevent nationals from returning safely. Individuals who hold TPS are not removable from the U.S., may obtain a work permit, and may be granted travel authorization.
If the government succeeds in ending TPS for Haitian immigrants working in the U.S., who have held the status since 2010, it will terminate their work permits, exposing them to deportation.
In late 2024, gangs controlled an estimated 85% of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, according to United Nations reports. Children in Haiti face increasing threats of sexual violence and gang recruitment, according to the UN.
In April, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Haiti María Isabel Salvador said the country “could face total collapse” without “timely and decisive international support.”
“Now, as the Trump administration is trying to put an end to TPS, I could lose my job,” plaintiff and 32BJ SEIU member Gerald Michaud said. “I would live in fear. Everything I have worked so hard to build is at risk, and the situation in Haiti is not good. But I know the power of speaking up.”
Trump tried to end Haiti’s TPS designation during his first term in 2018, when the Eastern District of New York enjoined the move upon finding evidence that the attempt was unlawful, arbitrary, and “motivated by discriminatory animus.”
The hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. on May 28 at the Eastern District of New York courthouse in Brooklyn.
