Trump admin wins as judge who blocked Haiti TPS says her order is no longer in effect

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump scored a significant immigration win on immigration this week. A federal judge confirmed that the court order stopping his administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitians no longer applies. The shift came after the Supreme Court's ruling in Mullin v. Doe.

US District Judge Ana Reyes stated that her previous order, which blocked the Department of Homeland Security from ending Haiti's TPS designation, no longer stands. The Supreme Court's decision and a following mandate from the DC Circuit overrode her earlier ruling.

Haiti TPS legal fight reaches a turning point

The ruling marks the culmination of a yearslong legal battle over the Biden administration's expansion of Haiti's TPS designation and delivers a significant immigration victory for Trump, who repeatedly campaigned on ending the Biden administration's expanded TPS protections for Haitians.

The issue became a centerpiece of the 2024 election after Trump and running mate JD Vance blamed the Biden administration's Haiti TPS policies for the influx of Haitian migrants into Springfield, Ohio, where residents raised concerns about traffic safety, strained public services and cultural clashes.

The controversy later exploded onto the national stage after Trump referenced residents' claims that migrants were taking ducks and geese from parks and eating household pets.

The legal fight isn't over yet, and the original lawsuit will continue.

Still, the administration now has the green light to move ahead with ending TPS for around 330,000 to 350,000 Haitians in the US.

What remains to be seen is whether courts find that the administration acted out of unconstitutional racial bias when it decided to end these protections. That's the focus of the remaining litigation.

 Haiti TPS designation lasted 16 years across administrations

The Supreme Court ruled in June that the TPS statute bars judicial review of the administration's non-constitutional decisions to terminate TPS designations and found the plaintiffs' equal protection challenge was unlikely to succeed.

The court reversed the lower courts and remanded the case for further proceedings.

Haiti first received TPS after the country's devastating 2010 earthquake, but the designation remained in place for 16 years through multiple administrations. The Biden administration later expanded and extended protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians already living in the US.

After reviewing conditions in Haiti, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem determined the country no longer met the statutory requirements for TPS and announced the administration's decision to terminate the designation, arguing the humanitarian program had been extended well beyond its intended temporary purpose.

The move triggered the legal challenge that ultimately reached the Supreme Court.

The State Department continues to maintain a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory for Haiti, citing widespread gang violence, kidnappings and civil unrest. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday's ruling by NY Post.