Nearly 350,000 affected; deportation to deteriorating Haiti feared
The revocation ended a designation that had allowed Haitians to live and work in the United States legally, safe from the violence, instability, and earthquakes that have torn apart their home country. In Miami, the policy change has remade everyday routines for thousands of residents who now weigh every trip outside against the risk of being detained by federal immigration officers.
For Herlain, a registered nurse born in Haiti, the consequence has been near-total confinement to her home. She asked NPR to use only her first name because of her immigration status. She said she instructed her family members about how to record on their phones in case she is detained. “You would think I was on the run,” Herlain told NPR. “Who am I on the run from? This is crazy!”
Even at home, Herlain said, she fears strangers and recently refused to open the door to a salesman requesting water during a humid Florida heat wave. “That’s not me. I’m a nurse, I help people,” she said through tears.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the revocation in an emailed statement to NPR. “Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that “for too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”
The community-wide toll has drawn attention from Father Reginald Jean-Mary, a reverend at Notre Dame d’Haiti Catholic Church in Miami, who said depression and anxiety are rampant among his parishioners. Father Reggie, as he is known, called the government’s actions “psychological warfare.” “The government knows deep down that they cannot deport 350,000 people!” he added.
Conditions in Haiti itself have deteriorated since the original TPS designation. Heavily armed gangs have taken over the capital and are rapidly expanding. Recently, dozens of people were massacred, including women and children sheltering in a church, the UN said.
Father Reggie said the situation has tested his faith. “We look like the forsaken people,” he said. “You ask yourself, ‘When, God? When is it going to stop?’” he added. “When you look at what’s going on in Haiti you ask yourself, ‘Where, God? Where are you?’”
The death of 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel in Springfield, Ohio has shaken the South Florida community, Father Reggie said. The Haitian man apparently died by suicide after losing his TPS and being outfitted with an ankle monitor.
Father Reggie said prayer service attendance has plummeted, including at the church’s adult learning school, which started the year with 231 students and is now down to 17. “This is a community being deconstructed completely,” he said. He said he knows of 14 parishioners who have been detained by immigration officers.
Along Little Haiti’s main business corridor, the usually bustling neighborhood has largely emptied since the Trump administration began posting about deportation flights of Haitians on social media. Most shops have their metal shutters down. A popular restaurant in the area had most of its staff picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a nearby barbershop closed after its owner was detained.
At Libreri Mapou, a Haitian Creole bookstore, owner Jan Mapou described the emptiness of the surrounding blocks. “Everybody is in hiding,” Mapou said. “Everybody is afraid, traumatized.” People have become so afraid to go out that a food bank has opened inside a local church.
Farah Larreux, a former television and radio broadcaster who came to the United States after being openly critical of political corruption in Haiti, said losing TPS has not silenced her but redirected her criticism toward U.S. politicians she said are demonizing Haitian immigrants who were invited into the country years ago.
“I don’t want to give up,” Larreux said. “I want to look at Trump in his eyes and tell him how evil he is.” She said going back to Haiti now would be a “death sentence” for her because of how vocal she has been.
Larreux argued that public attention has focused too heavily on the “temporary” aspect of TPS at the expense of its “protective” purpose. She pointed to what she called the hypocrisy of the Trump administration, noting that the State Department has told U.S. citizens not to travel to Haiti because it is too dangerous while simultaneously deporting Haitians there.
“So, is the message that my life has no value?” Larreux asked. “Or my life is less valued than the life of an American citizen?” She said she wants another legal pathway for immigrants who have fled violence and instability, but that under the current administration, few legal options remain for Haitians seeking to remain in the United States.
Many in the community are leaning on faith to navigate the situation. Father Reggie said he has been reminding parishioners to hold on to each other. “We will not give up because I believe Satan has his hour,” he said. “But God has his day.”