A federal judge has confirmed that a court order blocking the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian nationals is no longer in effect.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued the order Wednesday after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation. The decision affects an estimated 330,000 to 350,000 Haitians living in the United States.
Reyes wrote that her earlier order, which had temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security from ending the protections, “is no longer in effect.” The ruling followed the Supreme Court’s decision and a subsequent mandate from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The order does not end the broader lawsuit over the administration’s decision. Reyes denied the government’s request to halt discovery and instructed both sides to submit a new schedule for the case.
DHS General Counsel James Percival said the judge’s order did not itself terminate Haiti’s TPS designation. According to Percival, the protections had already expired when the Supreme Court’s mandate took effect on July 27.
“Haiti TPS ended when the Supreme Court mandate issued on July 27,” Percival wrote on X.
Following the Supreme Court decision, DHS said Haiti’s TPS designation would end effective July 27. Employment authorization documents issued through the program were also no longer valid, and employers were instructed to reverify the work authorization of affected workers.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that federal law generally prevents courts from reviewing the government’s non-constitutional decisions to terminate TPS designations. The court also found that the plaintiffs’ equal protection challenge was unlikely to succeed and sent the case back to the lower courts for additional proceedings.
The remaining lawsuit focuses on claims that the administration acted with unconstitutional racial bias when it terminated Haiti’s designation. The plaintiffs have argued that President Donald Trump’s views toward Haitian and other non-white immigrants influenced the decision.
Haiti was first granted TPS in January 2010 following a devastating earthquake. The designation was repeatedly extended under successive administrations. The Biden administration later expanded protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians already living in the United States.
The Trump administration has argued that TPS was intended to provide temporary protection rather than become a permanent immigration status. DHS said conditions in Haiti no longer justified continuing the designation.
The State Department, however, continues to maintain a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti because of gang violence, kidnappings and civil unrest.