(Headline USA) About 300,000 Haitians already in the United States will now be eligible for temporary legal status allowing them to remain in the U.S., the Biden Homeland Security Department said Friday.
The decision marks a major expansion of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.
The TPS designation was created by Congress in 1990. The Homeland Security secretary can grant temporary protection for different nationalities based on conditions in their home countries. The protection also allows them to apply for a work permit.
This expansion will apply to Haitians who were in the United States on June 3 and will last until Feb. 3, 2026. Separately, Mayorkas also extended the Temporary Protected Status of an estimated 200,000 Haitians who already had it.
The move — one of the largest expansions of TPS — draws another sharp policy contrast on immigration between Joe Biden and his predecessor, President Donald Trump, who sought to end temporary status for many countries, including Haiti, during his tenure in the White House.
Gangs have pillaged their way through the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, killing, raping and kidnapping thousands of people in recent years and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless and unemployed, which in turn has deepened poverty.
“Several regions in Haiti continue to face violence or insecurity, and many have limited access to safety, health care, food, and water,” Homeland Security said in a press release.
About 200,000 Haitians already have TPS under previous offers, according to the Congressional Research Service, the first one after a devastating earthquake in 2010 and the second amid political turmoil in 2021.
With the expansion announced Friday, Homeland Security estimated that an additional 309,000 Haitians will be eligible for the protected status.
Nearly 900,000 people from 16 countries are currently registered for TPS, with the largest nationalities hailing from Haiti, Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras and Ukraine.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
