The Department of Homeland Security says the gang-riddled Caribbean country is safe enough for Haitians to return.
The United States government has announced it will terminate special protections for Haitian immigrants.
In a statement issued Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that, starting on September 2, Haitians would no longer be able to remain in the country under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation.
TPS allows nationals from countries facing conflict, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances to temporarily remain in the US. It also gives them the right to work and travel.
The designation is typically made for periods of six, 12 or 18 months, but that can be extended by the DHS secretary.
But under the administration of President Donald Trump, temporary protections like TPS have been pared back, as part of a broader push to limit immigration to the US.
“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,” a DHS spokesperson said in Friday’s statement.
Haiti first received the TPS designation in 2010, when a devastating earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless – more than a 10th of the population. The designation has been routinely extended and expanded, particularly as gang violence and political instability worsened in recent years.
Since his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, President Trump has sought to strip TPS for Haitians, even as conditions have deteriorated in the Caribbean island nation.
Today, Haiti faces a protracted humanitarian crisis, with more than 5,600 people killed by gangs last year and 1.3 million displaced. Armed groups now control up to 90 percent of the capital, and food, water and medical services are extremely difficult to come by.
The US Department of State has placed a travel advisory on Haiti, listing it as a Level 4 country, the highest warning level.
Level 4 signifies “do not travel”, as there are life-threatening conditions in the designated area. The State Department advises Americans to avoid Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care”.
The DHS statement, however, notes that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem “determined that, overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety”.
“She further determined that permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States,” the statement adds.
An estimated 260,000 Haitians have TPS. The statement advises that those affected can either pursue another immigration status or return home.
But Haitians are not the only group to face the revocation of their temporary immigration status.
In early May, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US.
Later in the month, the high court also ruled that Trump can revoke the two-year “humanitarian parole” that allowed 530,000 people to legally remain and work in the US. The affected humanitarian parole recipients included Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, all of whom face instability and political repression in their home countries.
Trump officials have also moved to end TPS for 7,600 Cameroonians and 14,600 Afghans. But critics note that fighting continues to rage in Cameroon, and in Afghanistan, the Taliban government is accused of perpetrating widespread human rights abuses.