BREAKING: HAITIANS CHALLENGE TRUMP ADMIN’S PLOY TO END CRITICAL TPS RELIEF

“This administration had no authority to prematurely remove critical TPS protections, a literal lifeline for hundreds of thousands of Haitians"

NEW YORK, NY– Nine Haitian TPS holders, the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association, and SEIU-32BJ sued the Trump Administration for prematurely halting Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a humanitarian program that allows hundreds of thousands of Haitians to temporarily remain and work in the United States due to Haiti’s current conditions of extraordinary crises. Alleging that the administration’s early end of TPS was done in violation of immigration law and without proper review and driven by the President’s racial animus towards non-white immigrants, the Plaintiffs are asking the Federal Court in the Eastern District of New York to block the administration’s order. The law offices representing Plaintiffs include Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt and Just Futures Law. Along with the lawsuit, Just Futures Law and NYU Professor Ellie Happel also filed a FOIA lawsuit demanding decision memos and country conditions reports for the 15 countries currently designated under the TPS program.

"The sudden curtailing of Haiti’s TPS designation has created tremendous fear and stress among hundreds of thousands of law-abiding and hardworking TPS holders and their families, many of whom are the parishioners of our congregations and which include children born in the United States who should not be forced to choose between their country and their parents. Haitian clergy and community leaders stand in solidarity with them,” said Pastor Samuel Nicolas, President of the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association.

“The termination of TPS is motivated by President Trump’s long standing racial animus towards Haitians and other immigrants from countries with predominantly Black populations, not the law or the facts” said Roxana Rivera, with 32BJ SEIU. “We are filing this suit to stand up for the Haitians in our workforce and our communities, and to stand against racist bullying and the undermining of the rule of law.”

“Ending TPS for Haitians is one more chapter in a long history of racially-motivated Trump Administration attacks on vulnerable people,” said Brian Concannon, Executive Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). “The Haitian community, their allies and the courts stood up to the unconstitutional bullying last time, and we are standing up once again.”

“This administration had no authority to prematurely remove critical TPS protections, a literal lifeline for hundreds of thousands of Haitians," said Sejal Zota, Legal Director of Just Futures Law. “By taking away this program, the Trump administration will uproot Haitian TPS holders from their homes, families, churches, workplaces and their communities in the U.S. and send them to certain misery in a Haiti overrun with gangs and suffering from a breakdown of the healthcare system and near-famine levels of hunger.”

“Trump and Noem’s actions are illegal under the TPS statute and our international promise that we will never return people to countries where their lives or freedom are threatened,” said Ira Kurzban of Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt. “The actions challenged in this complaint represent a depth of cruelty typical of authoritarian and fascist governments but inconsistent with our values and history as a welcoming nation.”