Haitians face deportation as 16 years of temporary protected status ends

More than 300,000 Haitian immigrants who were granted Temporary Protected Status under the Obama administration are set to lose their status and will be vulnerable to deportation operations from the Trump White House, agency sources and federal documents obtained by CBS reveal.

Deportations will be carried out in states with large Haitian populations, such as Ohio, where thousands live under TPS, including in cities like Springfield, where many Haitians have settled. The internal plans for an arrest and deportation operation were created after the Supreme Court sided with the White House's efforts to terminate TPS for Haitian and Syrian immigrants. The ruling is set to bind lower courts Monday.

Documents suggest that the deportation efforts could start as early as next week. DHS, in a statement to CBS, said it "does not discuss ongoing or future operations," adding: "What we would say now is it's closing time, which means you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here… The good news is it's not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home."

In 2010, Haiti experienced a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, displaced more than a million, and seriously damaged the country's infrastructure. The Obama administration granted TPS to Haitians because returning them to the country under those conditions was deemed unsafe. Haiti was later hit by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, a devastating earthquake in 2021, and widespread political and civil upheaval following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

Springfield, Ohio, a city of around 58,000 people, became the subject of national attention during the 2024 election when then-candidate Donald Trump targeted the city's Haitian population after reports that Haitians were eating cats and dogs gained traction on social media. The influx of Haitians fueled frustrations over strained resources and public safety, with one particularly high-profile case involving Haitian driver Hermanio Joseph, who crashed into a school bus and killed an 11-year-old boy. Joseph was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide and sentenced to 9 to 13.5 years in prison, Spectrum News reports.