July 1, 2025
North Miami Councilwoman Mary Estime-Irvin called out the hypocrisy in the move after the U.S State Department updated the travel advisory for Haiti to level 4.
Haitian-American and advocacy leaders are highlighting the dangers that more than 500,000 Haitians risk after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) abruptly ended Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for people living legally in the U.S., NBC News reported.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the announcement June 27, claiming the “decision restores integrity in our immigration system” and that “the environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.” With protected status expected to end Sept. 2, the false claims sparked backlash with advocacy leaders who warned that deported Haitians will be returning to a war zone. “How can DHS send 500,000 Haitians back to a country that is the most dangerous country in the world?” nonprofit organization leader Len Gengel said.
“It’s crazy. It’s a war zone.”
Since March 2024, over 1,800 people have been kidnapped and 8,200 killed amid growing gang violence and political turmoil. Following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, armed gangs took over much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, in addition to a record estimated 1.3 million people experiencing homelessness.
Created in 1990, TPS is a humanitarian program established by the U.S. Congress to provide individuals, including those from Haiti, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Venezuela, and Ukraine, with the opportunity to find temporary refuge in the United States legally. However, according to program beneficiaries, it’s not a walk in the park.
“People think TPS is a free pass, but it’s not,” Haitian immigrant Abigail Desravines, who came to the U.S. after an earthquake, said.
“You have to keep renewing, pay fees and live with the fear that it could end at any time. It’s not an easy path.”
Despite the hassles that TPS presents, advocates like Florida’s Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien, feel President Donald Trump and his administration should think twice about shipping migrants back to a country overwhelmed with violence. “The Haitian community has contributed immensely to this nation, not only now, but since the 1700s, and the U.S. has long played a role in shaping Haiti’s challenges,” Bastien said, according to WLRN.
“Haiti is not safe. To send these people back would be a humanitarian disaster…What are we going to do? Are we gonna separate these families from their children?”
The DHS announcement is a vast difference from what former President Joe Biden did in 2024, expanding TPS protections for Haitians, giving people who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border legally and illegally the opportunity to qualify. In early June 2025, the U.S State Department updated the travel advisory for Haiti to level 4, strongly warning Americans against traveling to the Caribbean nation due to widespread gang violence and humanitarian crisis conditions.
North Miami Councilwoman Mary Estime-Irvin called out the hypocrisy in the move, calling it “just outright unjust.” “On one hand, we recognize that Haiti is unsafe, and on the other hand, we plan to deport the very people who fled that danger. That contradicts and that undermines the public trust,” she said.
“We cannot claim to be a nation of refuge and justice while turning our backs on the people fleeing chaos, violence, and despair.”
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