The Trump administration is ending protections for over 500,000 Haitians, making them eligible for deportation by August. Critics call the move inhumane, citing Haiti’s extreme violence and instability, with gangs controlling most of the capital and thousands killed last year.

The Trump administration is eliminating protections that have shielded approximately half a million Haitians from deportation. As a result, these individuals will lose their work permits and may become eligible for removal from the country by August.

The decision, announced on Thursday, is part of a broad effort by the Trump administration to fulfill campaign promises regarding mass deportations and to significantly reduce the scope of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. This program, which had been greatly expanded under the Biden administration to cover about one million immigrants, is now being scaled back.

In a news release, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that it is vacating a Biden administration decision that renewed TPS for Haitians. TPS grants individuals legal permission to remain in the U.S. but does not offer a direct path to citizenship. Those under this protection depend on government renewals to maintain their legal status.

Critics, including Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration, argue that TPS renewals have become automatic over time, regardless of conditions in the recipient's home country. DHS noted that in 2011, roughly 57,000 Haitians were eligible for TPS. However, by July of last year, that number had surged to 520,694.

Tessa Petit, a Haitian American who serves as the executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, condemned the move, calling it inhumane. "To send 500,000 people back to a country where there is such a high level of death is utterly inhumane," she said. Petit emphasized that Haiti continues to meet the requirements for TPS and expressed hope that the administration would reconsider the decision. "We do hope that, because they said they are going to revisit, that they put politics aside and put humanity first," she added.

Haiti continues to face extreme violence and instability. According to the United Nations, more than 5,600 people were killed in the country last year. Many displaced individuals are now living in overcrowded, makeshift shelters, including abandoned government buildings, where sexual violence has become increasingly prevalent.

Gangs currently control 85% of Haiti’s capital and have been launching new offensives to seize even more territory. In recent massacres, hundreds of civilians have lost their lives as violence continues to escalate.