Haiti TPS Lawsuits and the Path to the Supreme Court

The Haiti TPS lawsuit landscape sits in a holding pattern: as of mid-2026, Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals remains in effect under a federal court order, and the Supreme Court is expected to decide by late June or early July 2026 whether the Trump administration’s termination can go forward. Multiple federal courts have blocked the termination since early 2025, and the case now before the justices, Trump v. Miot, will determine whether courts can review these decisions at all.

Where Haitian TPS Stands Right Now

Protections are in place. On February 2, 2026, Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a stay blocking the administration’s November 2025 termination one day before it would have taken effect.¹ The D.C. Circuit denied the government’s emergency request to lift that stay on March 6, 2026, in a 2-1 decision, finding the government had not identified “a single concrete harm” from keeping the status quo.² When the Supreme Court took the case on March 16, 2026, it left that stay undisturbed.³

For employment purposes, USCIS has instructed employers to treat Haitian TPS Employment Authorization Documents as valid through at least July 1, 2026, for Form I-9 and E-Verify.⁴

The Supreme Court Case: Trump v. Miot

The Supreme Court granted certiorari before judgment on March 16, 2026, consolidating Trump v. Miot with a parallel case involving Syrian TPS holders, Mullin v. Doe.³ Three questions are before the Court:

Whether the TPS statute’s language that “there is no judicial review of any determination of the Secretary” bars courts from reviewing Administrative Procedure Act challenges to the termination process.
Whether the Secretary’s failure to meaningfully consult with other agencies and her assessment of country conditions make the termination arbitrary and capricious.
Whether the termination was motivated by racial animus in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee.⁵

Oral arguments were held on April 29, 2026. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that TPS decisions are foreign-policy judgments beyond judicial reach and that the statute “means what it says.” He invoked Trump v. Hawaii (2018), arguing the termination need only be “plausibly related” to a legitimate objective. Challengers responded that the outcome was a “preordained result” driven by discriminatory intent. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned why Congress would create mandatory procedural steps if courts could never check compliance; Chief Justice John Roberts asked whether the government was proposing a “significant expansion” of Trump v. Hawaii.³

A decision is expected by late June or early July 2026 and could affect roughly 300,000 Haitian TPS holders and, potentially, 1.3 million TPS beneficiaries from 17 designated countries.⁶

How the Litigation Reached This Point

The current fight began in February 2025, when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued a “partial vacatur” of the Biden administration’s July 2024 Haiti TPS extension, cutting the protection period from 18 months to 12 and moving expiration from February 3, 2026, to August 3, 2025.⁷ She then formally terminated Haiti’s TPS in a July 1, 2025, notice, citing national security concerns and screening limitations.⁸

After courts blocked those actions, the administration issued a superseding termination on November 28, 2025, setting a new effective date of February 3, 2026. That notice argued “extraordinary and temporary conditions” no longer existed in Haiti, pointing to a UN-authorized gang suppression force and projected GDP growth, and cited visa overstay rates and border encounters. The same notice also acknowledged that about 1.3 million people, roughly 12 percent of Haiti’s population, are internally displaced by gang violence.⁹

The earlier attempt to end Haitian TPS during the first Trump administration was blocked in 2019 by Judge William Kuntz in Saget v. Trump, and the Biden administration later issued a new designation, mooting the case in October 2021.¹⁰¹¹

The Main Lawsuits

Miot v. Trump

Filed July 31, 2025, in the District of Columbia, this is the case that reached the Supreme Court. Its five named plaintiffs are Haitian TPS holders: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscience Ph.D. student; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant; Marica Merline Laguerre, an economics student; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a registered nurse. An amended class action complaint followed in December 2025.¹

Judge Reyes found it “substantially likely” that the termination decision was preordained by hostility toward nonwhite immigrants, noted that Secretary Noem had terminated every TPS designation that reached her desk, and found DHS failed to consult with the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti or the State Department’s Haiti desk as the statute requires. The court also said the Secretary had ignored what it called a “perfect storm of suffering” documented in the administrative record.¹

National TPS Alliance v. Noem

Filed February 19, 2025, in the Northern District of California by Venezuelan TPS holders and the National TPS Alliance, with four Haitian TPS holders joining in March 2025. Plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, and UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy.¹² Judge Edward Chen granted summary judgment on September 5, 2025, ruling the TPS statute permits only designation, extension, and termination, not mid-stream vacatur.¹³

When the government asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay, the Court on October 3, 2025, stayed the ruling for Venezuelan TPS holders but explicitly declined to touch the portion protecting Haitians, because the government had not requested that relief.¹⁴ The Ninth Circuit affirmed on January 28, 2026, holding the Secretary “exceeded her statutory authority.”⁷

Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association v. Trump

Filed March 14, 2025, in the Eastern District of New York by nine Haitian TPS holders, the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association, and SEIU-32BJ.¹⁵ On July 1, 2025, Judge Brian Cogan granted partial summary judgment, ruling Secretary Noem exceeded her authority in partially vacating Haiti’s designation. The court’s July 15 final judgment kept Haitian TPS in place at least through February 3, 2026.¹⁶

Haitian Americans United v. Trump

Lawyers for Civil Rights filed this case on March 3, 2025, in the District of Massachusetts on behalf of Haitian Americans United, the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, UndocuBlack Network, and four individual plaintiffs under pseudonyms.¹⁷ Judge Richard Stearns mooted the stay request in April 2025 because plaintiffs had received equivalent relief in California, and in December 2025 the court stayed the case pending appellate rulings elsewhere.¹⁸

Detentions and Deportations Despite the Orders

Court orders have not entirely prevented enforcement action against Haitian TPS holders. On February 5, 2026, two days after Judge Reyes’s stay took effect, a deportation flight carrying 136 people landed in Cap-Haïtien; the flight included individuals who had previously held TPS or permanent residency, according to the Haitian Times.¹⁹ In April 2026, a Florida resident identified as “Brulan,” who held valid TPS, was arrested during a traffic stop and deported to Haiti in May, then returned to the United States two weeks later after his attorney filed a wrongful detention suit. The administration has publicly characterized TPS holders subject to removal orders as “illegal aliens.”²⁰

Who Is Affected

Estimates of the affected population range from about 252,000 to over 300,000 Haitian TPS holders and their families.²¹²² About 200,000 are in the U.S. workforce, roughly 72 percent are employed, and 69 percent work in occupations classified as essential. Twenty-eight percent have purchased homes in the United States, and average annual income is approximately $72,400. Estimates put the number of U.S.-citizen children of Haitian TPS holders at 34,000 to 50,000.

1
Just Security. Lesly Miot v. Trump, Feb. 2, 2026 Order
2
U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Miot v. Trump, No. 26-5050
3
SCOTUSblog. Court Considers Whether Trump Administration Properly Ended Temporary Protected Status for Haiti
4
USCIS. Update on Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti
5
Supreme Court of the United States. Trump v. Miot, No. 25-1077, Respondents’ Brief
6
International Refugee Assistance Project. Legal Teams React to SCOTUS Arguments on Cases Challenging Termination of TPS for Haiti and Syria
7
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. National TPS Alliance v. Noem, No. 25-5724
8
Immigration Policy Tracking Project. DHS Formally Terminates TPS for Haiti
9
Federal Register. Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status
10
vLex. Saget v. Trump, 375 F.Supp.3d 280
11
Congressional Research Service. Temporary Protected Status Legal Challenges
12
ACLU of Southern California. TPS Holders Challenge Shortening Humanitarian Relief for 500,000 Haitians
13
Civil Rights Clearinghouse. National TPS Alliance v. Noem
14
Supreme Court of the United States. Noem v. National TPS Alliance, No. 25A326
15
Just Futures Law. TPS Haiti Legal Filings
16
Justice Action Center. Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association v. Trump
17
WBUR. Lawsuit in Boston Challenges Trump TPS Terminations for Haitians, Venezuelans
18
Civil Rights Clearinghouse. Haitian Americans United Inc. v. Trump
19
The Haitian Times. Legal Residents Deported to Haiti
20
Miami Herald. Haitian TPS Holders Detained and Deported
21
Center for Migration Studies. Venezuelan and Haitian TPS Beneficiaries Contribute to the Nation
22
FWD.us. New Data Reveals the Immense Human and Economic Cost of Terminating Haiti Temporary Protected Status