U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Haiti set to expire on February 3, 2026. This latest effort to terminate TPS for Haiti follows a ruling by a District Court judge in New York that prevented USCIS from effectuating its earlier notice to terminate the TPS designation for Haiti ahead of a previously schedule end date under a lawsuit over USCIS’ February 24, 2025 early cancellation of TPS for Haiti. Per the District Court’s ruling, Secretary Noem’s partial cancellation “was in excess of her authority,” and USCIS had to restore the original February 3, 2026 expiration date for the TPS designation for Haiti.
USCIS says the TPS designation for Haiti will end of February 3, 2026 and not be renewed because Secretary Noem determined that “there are no extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti that prevent Haitian nationals from returning in safety” and “because it is contrary to the national interest of the United States to permit Haitian nationals (or aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti) to remain temporarily in the United States.” USCIS cites several factors to justify its decision, including U.S. national security risks resulting from the United States’ inability to properly vet TPS applicants from Haiti because “Haiti lacks a functioning central authority capable of maintaining or sharing” critical vetting information, such as criminal histories.
USCIS originally announced that Haiti had been designated for TPS in January 2010, citing “extraordinary and temporary conditions preventing Haitian nationals from returning to Haiti in safety” following an earthquake on January 12, 2010 that substantially affected the country’s infrastructure and resulted in significant casualties. USCIS extended the designation in October 2012, in March 2014, in August 2015, and in in May 2017. USCIS terminated the designation for TPS for Haiti in January 2018 but several lawsuits required USCIS to continue TPS for Haiti through a December 2020 USCIS compliance order. The Biden-era USCIS designated Haiti for TPS in August 2021, and extended and re-designated TPS for Haiti in January 2023 and in July 2024. The current redesignation is scheduled to expire on February 3, 2026.
This termination will become effective beginning February 3, 2026.