Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Reuters/File
Federal courts in the United States have stepped in to stop the forced return of hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Venezuelans, many of whom fled hardship and violence and have built new lives abroad. The rulings have drawn attention across Africa and the Caribbean, where migration, safety, and dignity remain shared concerns.
In one key decision, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes blocked the American government from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 350,000 Haitians. The protection allows them to live and work legally in the U.S. The judge’s order came just one day before the status was due to expire.
Reyes said the decision by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not appear to be based on proper review.
“Plaintiffs charge that Secretary [Kristi] Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely,” she wrote.
TPS was first granted to Haitians after the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed many people and left more than a million without homes. Years later, Haiti continues to struggle with hunger, armed gangs, and weak state control, making safe return difficult for many families.
Lawyers representing Haitian migrants welcomed the ruling, calling it “a significant victory for our clients and for the thousands of Haitian TPS holders who seek nothing more than the same opportunity pursued by generations of immigrants before them.” They added that the court recognized “the grave risks Haitian TPS holders would face if forced to return.”
Another ruling, this time from a federal court in California, expanded the protection. Judge Edward Chen stopped the U.S. government from ending TPS for more than one million people from Haiti and Venezuela combined. This includes about 500,000 Haitians and 600,000 Venezuelans.
Chen warned that removing the protections would send people “back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries.” He said the way the decision was made broke long-standing practice and ignored careful study used by past governments.
For many Africans watching from the continent and in the diaspora, the case reflects familiar questions: who decides when a country is “safe,” and what happens when politics overrides lived reality?
Immigrant rights groups say the sudden policy changes have already hurt families. Some people lost jobs, others were detained, and some were deported before courts could step in.
“In recent months, people have suffered unspeakable harm including deportation and family separation due to the Supreme Court greenlighting Secretary Noem’s discriminatory and harmful agenda,” said Emi Maclean of the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. “That must end now.”
The U.S. government rejects the criticism. A Homeland Security spokesperson said the TPS system has been “abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program,” adding that “unelected activist judges” should not stand in the way of stricter border control.
The Trump administration has argued that TPS was meant to be temporary and that conditions in Haiti and Venezuela have improved. Judges in both cases disagreed, saying the law requires evidence, process, and fairness.
For now, Haitians living abroad can breathe again. But the legal battle continues, and the outcome will affect not only migrants in the U.S., but also families, remittances, and fragile economies back home especially in countries like Haiti, where return is still far from safe.