Administration: It's Safe to Go Back to Haiti Now

The Trump administration has announced that it's dropping deportation protections for Haitians in the US, saying the violence in their impoverished Caribbean nation has eased enough to make it safe for citizens to return home. The move announced Friday puts more than 300,000 people at risk of deportation, the New York Times reports. Immigrants' advocates disagreed with the Department of Homeland Security, and the United Nations' human rights chief this month asked governments not to force anyone to go back to Haiti. Amnesty International USA denounced the decision.

The temporary protected status was extended to Haitian nationals in the US after an earthquake near Port-au-Prince caused as many as 200,000 deaths in 2010, per the Washington Post. "This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary," DHS said in a statement. If they're eligible, the statement added, Haitians can "pursue lawful status" through other means. The statement did not explain why the department considers Haiti safe now. The State Department still advises against Americans traveling there. Just this week, the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince urged Americans to leave Haiti as soon as possible.

In a notice filed for the Federal Register, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she made the decision "because it is contrary to the national interest to permit Haitian nationals … to remain temporarily in the United States." Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, issued a statement Saturday describing the decision "to send vulnerable families back to a country plagued with violence and a horrific humanitarian crisis" as "unconscionable, shameful, and dangerous." Amnesty International USA's post on X said: "Ending TPS for Haitians is cruel and dangerous, and a continuation of President Trump's racist and anti-immigrant practices." Barring a court challenge, the revocation takes effect Sept. 2.