(RNS) — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end temporary protected status for Haitian migrants before it is set to expire in February 2026.
In his Tuesday (July 1) ruling, New York-based Judge Brian Cogan said Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem didn’t “have statutory or inherent authority to partially vacate a country’s TPS designation.”
The ruling comes months after Noem announced the administration would cut TPS for Haitians, which would have ended their legal status on Aug. 3. The lawsuit was filed against her and President Donald Trump by a group of Haitian migrants and advocacy groups, including the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association.
RELATED: Haitian Aid Workers Worry American Christians Donors Could Worsen Crisis
For recently arrived Haitians, many of whom fled the gang violence-stricken island, Tuesday’s decision brought a glimpse of hope. Now, the nearly 350,000 Haitians in the country under TPS status have more time to apply for other legal immigration statuses. The program can’t be suspended without a 60-day advance notice, Cogan said in his ruling.
A mother carries her son as she runs past a burning barricade during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Nov. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
The decision gives Haitians in the country under the law “a little bit of relief,” said Springfield, Ohio-based Pastor Viles Dorsainvil, co-founder of Springfield’s Haitian Support Center, and one of the plaintiffs.
“They have a little chunk of time just to make arrangements if they decide to stay here, or if they decide to go somewhere else because I think that Aug. 3 was too much on short notice for them to do what they had to do,” he said.
The decision is a “victory” that will protect “350,000 immigrants from imminent deportation to Haiti,” wrote attorneys Andrew Tauber and Geoff Pipoly of law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, which represented the plaintiffs.
“This is a victory not only for our clients, who bravely stood up for what is right, but also for the rule of law,” they wrote in a statement.
The Trump administration said it was prepared to appeal the decision.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in an emailed statement that the ruling “delays justice and seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II,” referring to his executive powers.
Jean-Michel Gisnel cries out while praying with other congregants at the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Jan. 26, 2025, in Springfield, Ohio. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
“Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades,” she said in the statement. “The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe, and we expect a higher court to vindicate us in this. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”
Half a million migrants, many from Haiti, were granted TPS under Biden-era programs introduced in 2023 to create legal immigration routes for nationals of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti. In October, the Biden administration announced that it would not renew the programs, after suspending them in August following an internal report that flagged possible sponsorship fraud. Despite the suspension, beneficiaries of the programs would still enjoy their legal status until it expired.
In March, the Trump administration overturned the programs, urging beneficiaries to self-deport by late April or prepare to face immigration arrests.
