DHS and federal courts at odds over Haitian TPS | News

Ahead of the expiration date for Haitian temporary protected status on last Monday, official announcements from the Department of Homeland Security and legal proceedings seem to be at odds regarding the end of the designation.

On the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services site, DHS put out an alert, stating, “The Haiti TPS designation is terminated, effective July 27, 2026.”

The agency also put out a post on X on Monday, suggesting that Haitian TPS had already come to an end. The post read, “Your free trial of America has ended” and “Your Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections have expired. You can wait for DHS to deport you or you leave now by visiting DHS.Gov/CBPHOME.”

However, attorneys say that TPS cannot legally come to an end until the injunction put in place by Federal District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes, which blocks DHS from ending TPS, is lifted.

Immigration Attorney Wayne Dapser explained that Haitian TPS cannot end until lower courts issue an order that implements the Supreme Court’s decision.

And Dapser has been checking the court dockets for both the district courts and appeals courts, and said there has been no order from the Supreme Court or action from Judge Reyes as of Thursday morning.

As of Thursday morning, the only document that has been filed in the district court docket comes from the Haitian Legal Defense and Education Fund, urging the court to maintain the injunction blocking the termination of Haitian TPS, or at the very least mandating “a strict 90-day pause on all deportations to Haiti.” The document lists numerous issues currently facing Haiti, noting civil, economic, health and political crises. There hasn’t been any official action regarding the notice.

Dapser explained that there was a 32-day period for a Certified Order to be sent to the lower court, DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which was expected to be accomplished by July 27. However, he said there is no sign that this was executed as of yet.

Dapser said Judge Reyes will have to await the formal mandate from the higher courts to lift the injunction and officially terminate the TPS designation.

Dapser suggested until that happens, TPS will remain in effect. And he said these conflicting messages from DHS and federal courts complicates decisions for employers. He said some employers have let these employees go, basing their decision off the deadline, while others are waiting for an official announcement to come out of the district court’s action.

“If an employer were to retain their TPS workers until a public announcement that the injunction has been lifted and that there is no injunction, I do not see that any employer would have any liability or penalty for continuing employment,” Dapser wrote.

Dapser said even though the work authorization systems E-Verify and UCIS SAVE also provide July 27, 2026 as the effective expiration date, he claimed work authorizations remain valid until a court injunction is lifted.

“USCIS SAVE and E-Verify systems tend to lag a bit and are not the deciding word on the current status of TPS,” Dapser said.

This is despite the fact that a majority of Haitian TPS beneficiaries did lose their authorization to operate licensed motor vehicles in Florida before July 27. Dapser said this disconnect came from the expiration date from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles on Florida driver licenses not matching the July 27 extension from the courts.

He said this doesn’t pertain to all current Haitian TPS beneficiaries, as some who might have pending asylum and residency cases may have been given an extended expiration date.

Dapser said a majority of his clients are Haitian, and they remain uncertain of their future, whether it’s on the basis of having to return to a country that isn’t deemed safe, waiting on their pending asylum or residency cases or figuring out how they’re going to travel without the fear of detainment.

“How are my clients feeling? They’re scared,” Dapser said.

Dapser said many of his clients join their court cases via video call, with many fearful that attending their pending cases in person will result in detainment.

Dapser also expressed his concerns over employers letting go of their employees with current guidance, as legal costs exhaust the resources of Haitian’s seeking the next steps for legal status in the U.S.

Roughly 330,000 Haitians on TPS live in the U.S. (2024 American Community Survey) and 158,000 live in Florida. According to data from the survey, of the roughly 200,000 Haitian TPS holders who made up the workforce, 22,000 work as cooks and servers, 13,000 work as nursing assistants, and thousands more work in positions such as drivers, security guards, agricultural workers and more.

TPS was initially granted to Haitian nationals back in 2010 after the impact of the earthquakes that devastated the country. Since then, the U.S. has granted numerous extensions and redesignations following political instability, natural disasters and public health crises in the country.

The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, initially put out a notice for Haitian TPS to expire on Feb. 3, 2026. On Feb. 2, Judge Ana C. Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order to extend TPS after a case was filed to challenge the DHS’s decision.

The court granted the stay under 5 U.S.C. § 705, allowing Haitian TPS beneficiaries to continue holding lawful status and employment in the country.

On June 25, in the consolidated case of Trump v. Miot and Mullin v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote that DHS could terminate TPS for Haiti and Syria. The ruling also established that the courts cannot review DHS’s decisions based on TPS statute.

On July 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a request from the Trump administration. The order gave Haitian nationals a brief extension to their TPS designation until July 27. Termination remains pending without the mandate from the Supreme Court reaching Judge Reyes.

Although there had been a proposed bill to seek another extension, which passed the U.S. House, the process had been delayed in the U.S. Senate after Senate Republican Eric Schmitt blocked the bill on Wednesday last week. The bill would have looked for an extension up to April 2029, according to reports from NBC Miami. It still has the possibility to pass the Senate at a later time.