Judge halts DHS plan to revoke temporary protected status for Haitians
Thousands of Haitians in Massachusetts can continue to work here, after a federal judge ordered a halt to Department of Homeland Security's effort to revoke their temporary protected status.
On Monday, Judge Ana Reyes, who sits in the federal court for the District of Columbia, granted the request of five Haitians to stay Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's decision to end the temporary protected status for that country. Noem's move was scheduled to take effect Tuesday.
The designation, which is intended to help people from countries experiencing disaster, is held by at least 15,000 Haitians in Massachusetts. Some estimates put that number at 45,000.
State officials had warned that revocation of the immigration status would deepen staffing shortages, particularly in the state's health and human service industries. They welcomed Monday's ruling.
For instance, Gov. Maura Healey said her office began notifying employers about the judge's ruling, adding that Haitians with temporary protected status "can breathe a sigh of relief" and were still eligible for work.
"If President Trump had his way, thousands of nurses, home health aides, and other essential employees would not have been able to work tomorrow, and patients and families who are dependent on caregivers would have suffered," Healey said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, promised to appeal the ruling.
"Supreme Court, here we come," wrote Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in response to a request from The Republican for comment.
McLaughlin described Reyes' stay, which is intended to remain in place while the case plays out in court, as "lawless activism." She said the government first designated Haiti's temporary protected status in the wake of the 2010 earthquake that struck that country, and in the years since, the temporary program morphed into a "de facto amnesty program."
Reyes, in her opinion, noted that in Massachusetts alone, about 2,000 Haitians with temporary protected status worked as long-term caregivers.
Arc of Massachusetts , which advocates for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, said Haitians with temporary protected status play a significant role working as direct support professionals helping people with disabilities.
The ruling, the agency said, "prevents a catastrophic hit to the disability workforce," which could have quickly led to shuttered programs and disrupted services. The ruling, it added, does not alleviate the long-term uncertainty that Haitians, their employers and the people they work with have faced over the last few months.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, said Haitians with temporary protected status live in the country legally, and the federal government promised that they would be kept "from being sent into a war zone."
"Families shouldn't be separated, our neighbors shouldn't be ripped from their homes, and businesses shouldn't lose their staff at Trump's whim," Warren said in her statement.
This week, Warren, with more than 50 of her congressional colleagues, launched an inquiry exploring how the department's effort to change the immigration status of Haitians could affect the health care and human services workforce.
Judge's sharp critique
Massachusetts is home to the third-largest Haitian population in the country, according to an amicus brief filed into the case with the help of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.
In 2024, the state partnered with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition to offer clinics for Haitians staying in the state's emergency shelters on how to apply for temporary protected status.
The state, the attorney general's brief said, recognized "that obtaining a work authorization through the TPS program is a valuable avenue to self-sufficiency."
In her ruling, Reyes said Noem ignored both facts and law when she decided to revoke temporary protected status for Haiti.
"Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system," Reyes wrote. "Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. … This approach is many things — in the public interest is not one of them."
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