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MIAM – A coalition of immigrant organizations has sued the President Donald Trump administration for revoking the extension of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for millions of Haitian and Venezuelan migrants nationwide.

According to Bloomberg Law, the Haitian Americans United Inc., Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts and UndocuBlack Network Inc., are asking a federal court to stymie the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from rescinding the TPS extension and deporting migrants.

The program allows migrants who fled their homelands because of a natural disaster or political turmoil to live and work in the United States until conditions improve.

The President Biden administration extended TPS for 18-months and was set to end in 2026 but curtailed to August 2025 under Trump’s executive order to revoke the program.

The plaintiffs said Trump’s action violated the US Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act and should be immediately enjoined and set aside, according to their lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

They said Haitian and Venezuelan migrants face “great” danger if they are deported amid escalating gang violence and political upheaval.

The plaintiffs also say, “racial bias infected” these decisions, as the “list of dehumanizing and disparaging statements that defendant Trump has made against Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants is unfortunately long: ranging from racist tropes that Haitians ‘all have AIDS’ and eat dogs and cats, to routinely describing Venezuelans and other Latino immigrants as sub-human ‘animals.’”

The Trump administration has yet to respond to the federal lawsuit.

The Department of Homeland Security announced on February 20 that the Trump administration was revoking the 18-month TPS extension, as part of the president’s illegal immigration crackdown operation.

In a prepared statement, DHS Secretary Krisit Noem said for decades, the TPS system has been exploited and abused.

For example, she said Haiti has been designated for TPS since the earthquake in 2010 and data shows each extension of the country’s TPS designation allowed more Haitian nationals, even those who entered the U.S. illegally, to qualify for legal protected status.

Noem said in May of 2011, DHS estimated that 57,000 Haitian migrants were eligible to register for TPS, and in 2021, about 155,000 Haitians were eligible under the new designation.

And by July 2024, the estimate soared to 520,694.
“We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “President Trump and Secretary Noem are returning TPS to its original status: temporary.”