Haitian deportation in the United States refers to the removal of Haitian nationals from the country, a process closely tied to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) determinations. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United States granted TPS to Haitians already residing in the country and to those who sought refuge there within a year of the earthquake, protecting them from deportation amid the instability Haiti faced following the disaster. Over 300,000 Haitians took advantage of TPS, allowing them to work in the US and send remittances back to Haiti. Haitians who did not qualify for TPS, or who had committed one felony or two misdemeanors, were deported, and such deportations have continued for the past decade. The second Trump administration ended TPS for Haiti in 2026, affecting about 330,000 people, after the Supreme Court allowed the termination to proceed in June 2026.
2010 earthquake and beginning of TPS
A 7.0 earthquake hit Léogâne, Haiti on January 12, 2010, causing damage to about 80-90% of the city's buildings. Many other cities were destroyed and over 100,000 people were killed. This caused an influx of Haitian immigrants, mostly to Florida and New York.
In 2010, the United States granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians currently living in the United States after the earthquake. This allowed Haitians currently residing in the United States without legal residency and Haitian immigrants within a year of the earthquake to continue living there as refugees. Haiti was deemed unsafe and improper for Haitians to return to, and unable to support the return of these immigrants. However, the TPS only included Haitians without a certain criminal record, one felony or two misdemeanors. Over time, many of these eligible Haitians were deported from the United States.
Many Haitians living outside of Haiti experienced transnationalism, and worked in the United States to send remittances to their families in Haiti.
Criminal deportation, 2010-2015
Between 2010 and 2015, the five years after the earthquake, deportations to Haiti on criminal offenses began. Over 1,500 men and women were deported to Haiti due to a criminal history. Within the first year after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, criminal deportations to Haiti began. Many of those deported were lawful permanent residents who had lived in the United States for years, leaving behind family members and children. Some later died. In response, the United States halted deportations but then began again after two months.
Removals of undocumented Haitians, 2016-18 In 2016, six years after the earthquake, the United States began removing undocumented Haitians unprotected by TPS (temporary protected status), and deported them back to Haiti. About 600 Haitians were deported in 2016. In 2017, efforts to end TPS by the national government and the Trump administration began and about 5,500 Haitian refugees were deported. In November 2018, the Trump administration announced that the temporary protection status program would be ending for the approximate 60,000 Haitians that were currently protected by this status and had not yet gained residency. The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to detain thousands of Haitians and deport them to Haiti.
Policies under the first Trump administration, 2017-21 In 2017, the Trump administration decided to end the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for all Haitians in the United States. He ceased the Haitian TPS because it had gone on too long and was becoming permanent rather than temporary as it was anticipated to be. The termination was said to take effect in July 2019, eighteen months later, to create a smooth transition for Haiti, the United States, and the Haitian Immigrants previously under TPS. Various officials agreed that it was a good decision, however it was considerably controversial both nationally and abroad.
After this news was released, many politicians and experts expressed strong opinions opposing the termination of the Haitian Temporary Protection Status, including Jessicah Pierre, Bill Nelson, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. They argued that the status of Haiti was still not safe for its refugees to return home. Recently, members of the United States Congress have introduced a Haitian Deportation Relief Act suggesting the suspension of Haitian deportation due to the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Congresspeople including Frederica Wilson, Bennie Thompson, Eliot Engel, and others, believed Haiti to be significantly more unfit to support a large number of deportees during these times.
As required by the orders in Saget v. Trump and Ramos v. Nielsen, the Temporary Protected Status designation for Haiti remained in effect pending further court order. Beneficiaries under the TPS designation for Haiti will maintain their status. The department of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services automatically extended TPS documents through January 4, 2021.
Policies under the Biden administration, 2021-25 In September 2021, a group of approximately 15,000 migrants, about 95% of whom were Haitian, resided in a camp under a bridge between Del Rio, Texas and Mexico."Haitian migrants from border camp moved to Houston, other cities, US officials confirm", KHOU. September 22, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.Luscombe, Richard. "Last Haitian migrants removed from Del Rio encampment, homeland security chief says", The Guardian. September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021. On September 24, 2021, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated that approximately 2,000 had been deported to Haiti on 17 flights, while 5,000 were awaiting processing by Homeland Security agents, and approximately 8,000 had returned to Mexico. Thousands were freed inside the U.S. to await immigration hearings, with some 2,000 released in Houston alone, contradicting the administration's statement that Haitians entering illegally were subject to immediate deportation. By the morning of September 24, 2021, all migrants had been removed from the camp near Del Rio.
On September 23, 2021, United States Special Envoy for Haiti Daniel Lewis Foote resigned in protest of the Biden administration's policies regarding Haitian deportations, stating that "armed gangs" had made Haiti so dangerous that US officials were "confined to secure compounds".
In April 2024, after a months long pause on deportations to Haiti, the Biden administration resumed deportations to Haiti despite the ongoing crisis.
As of May 2022, over 18,000 Haitian nationals seeking asylum have been expelled under Title 42.
Policies under the second Trump administration
End of Temporary Protected Status
On February 3, 2026, the second Trump administration announced that the TPS issued in 2010 would end, affecting 330,735 Haitian immigrants. A federal district judge barred the revocation, finding that the decision might have been grounded in "racial animus" owing to, among other things, Republican endorsements of a racialized hoax about Haitians eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio. In June 2026, the Supreme Court found in a 6-3 decision that the possibility of "racial animus" was insufficient reasoning to prevent the government from revoking TPS. USCIS announced the expiration would happen on July 1, which was then shifted to July 10 and then to July 24. Confusion over the expiration date caused some companies to fire Haitian staff early.
On July 16, ICE flew 100 Haitians to Haiti, on the same day that a gangland massacre killed 61 people near Port-au-Prince. ICE announced its intention to deport 250 Haitians per week. Haiti was described as ill-equipped to handle returnees. However, Newsweek reported on August 6 that ICE would avoid arresting Haitians with expired TPS. The end of TPS was expected to damage the health care and manufacturing sectors in the US and to devastate the Haitian economy, which was largely reliant on remittances. By July, more than 800,000 Haitian emigrés had already been forcibly returned from nearby countries such as the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.
By September, immigration authorities had required many Haitians to check in with ICE. Some were stripped of passports, fitted with ankle monitors, or offered $2,600 and free flights to self-deport. Deportation, however, posed serious risks, especially for returnees perceived as financially well-off, given kidnappings and severe gang violence in Haiti. Advocates said the immigration policy was fueling fear, anxiety, shame, and financial hardship in Springfield, Ohio, where many Haitians had settled, worked, and run businesses for several years. Pierre Damas Bel, an Ohio college student wearing an ankle monitor died by suicide after publicly describing feelings of humiliation.
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