Federal judge confirms DHS can terminate TPS for Haiti
A federal judge confirmed that her order blocking the termination of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians is no longer in effect,over a month after the Supreme Court approved the Trump administration’s move to end TPS for Haiti. U.S. district Judge Ana Reyes stated that her previous February ruling was invalidated following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision allowing the administration to proceed with ending TPS for Haiti, which affects about 350,000 Haitians in the U.S. Despite the court ruling,efforts to challenge the termination continue,with attorneys asserting that their constitutional claims remain active and litigation will proceed. The Supreme Court’s decision was based on statutory limitations that exclude judicial review of such administrative determinations. The case has been sent back to lower courts for further proceedings,marking the first official acknowledgment by Judge Reyes that her earlier order had been voided. DHS officials defended the termination process, contrasting the courts’ actions and emphasizing their authority to end TPS without judicial interference.
A federal judge confirmed Wednesday that her order halting the Trump administration from ending temporary protected status for Haiti was no longer in effect, more than a month after the Supreme Court allowed the administration to move forward with doing so.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, said in an order that her February ruling blocking the Trump administration from ending TPS for Haiti “is no longer in effect.” The Supreme Court’s ruling paving the way for the president to terminate TPS for the Caribbean country is estimated to affect roughly 350,000 Haitians in the U.S. who previously had temporary protected status.
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Geoff Pipoly, lead counsel for the Haitians who sued over the administration’s decision to terminate TPS, called Wednesday a “bad day for America and a devastating day for our clients.”
“To be clear, we are continuing to fight on behalf of Haitian TPS holders. Although the Supreme Court ruled against our clients, it did not foreclose all avenues to relief. Plaintiffs’ constitutional claim remains live,” Pipoly said in a statement, asserting that they will continue litigation despite TPS being allowed to end.
“We intend to litigate the discovery issues in this case, obtain further discovery, and assess whether the facts support relief on our constitutional claim. For the moment, Haitian TPS holders find themselves in essentially the same position that Venezuelan TPS holders did in the summer and fall of 2025: the termination is in effect while the case continues to be litigated,” Pipoly added.
The Supreme Court issued its 6-3 ruling in Trump v. Miot on June 25, allowing the Trump administration to end TPS for Haiti and Syria, but also clearing the way for officials to end TPS for any country without worrying about judicial review of the administration’s decision.
“The TPS statute plainly bars consideration of respondents’ non-constitutional claims,” Alito said. “It allows ‘no judicial review of any determination … with respect to the … termination’ of a TPS designation. The term ‘determination’ can be used to describe either an individual decision or the whole process leading to a final decision, and under either understanding of the term, §1254a(b)(5)(A) squarely bars all of respondents’ non-constitutional claims.”
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As is customary, the Supreme Court issued its judgment 32 days after its ruling was released, sending the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which then remanded the case back to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and Reyes to continue or conclude the case consistent with the high court’s ruling. Wednesday’s order from Reyes was the first confirmation given by her court that the February order had been voided.
DHS General Counsel James Percival pushed back on the characterization by some media outlets that Haitian TPS had not been terminated prior to Reyes’s Wednesday order in a post on X, but did “give Judge Reyes kudos though for taking the L with grace and not doing something bonkers like many of her colleagues,” referring to other federal district courts which have still attempted to halt efforts to end TPS for other countries.
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