Trump Admin Begins Deportation of Haitians After TPS Ends
The first Haitians to be deported after the Trump administration slogged through multiple court battles to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians arrived in Haiti Thursday.
More than 160 people landed, according to the Associated Press. All told, about 350,000 Haitians were living in the United States under TPS.
The Supreme Court ruled in June in Mullin v. Doe that the Trump administration could end TPS for Haitians, which was first granted in 2012.
The deportees included Haitians who served prison sentences and TPS holders, Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, director general of Haiti’s National Office of Migration, said, according to AP.
📰 US deports 161 Haitians as former TPS holders await return plans
This is the first reported deportation flight to Haiti since U.S. authorities announced plans last…https://t.co/Hdz5Iv919p pic.twitter.com/FN8yudGsMC
— Haitian Times (@HaitianTimes_) August 21, 2026
Although the Supreme Court ruled that TPS could end, court battles continued for weeks until Aug. 5, when a federal judge said Haitians’ time was up.
“The court’s order, which had stayed the effective date of [former] Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status pending judicial review, is no longer in effect,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes wrote in a brief order, according to CNN.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were already rounding up those who would be deported.
“We’re going after them right now,” DHS Secretary Markwaye Mullin said at the time. “These individuals can either self-deport or we’ll arrest you and send you back. It’s that simple.”
“The Haiti TPS program ended on July 27 after the Supreme Court ratified President Trump’s long-held view that Temporary Protected Status in fact means temporary,” White House representative Lauren Bis told Fox News.
“The TPS program was never intended to be an amnesty program. The Trump Administration continues to prioritize ending egregious abuses of our immigration system that have hurt Americans for years,” she said.
DHS General Counsel James Percival had told Fox News that TPS was abused because “many of these designations became de facto amnesty. This is a win for the rule of law and common sense.”
There is roughly 150,000 Haitians on TPS in South Florida.
These flights need to be daily 🇺🇸 https://t.co/Ses12cuPT8
— Chandler Langevin (@ChandlerForPB) August 21, 2026
Percival stressed that point in a video posted to X.
“The T in TPS stands for temporary,” he said.
“Many of these designations go back decades,” he said.
“President Trump has been trying to end these programs since 2017,” he said.
“So these people have been on notice for nine years that this day is coming,” he said.
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