The US government will end the temporary protected status (TPS) for 500,000 Haitians living in the country in August, the Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday.
This comes despite deteriorating conditions in the Caribbean country, with gangs controlling about 85% of the capital and sexual violence against children increasing by 1,000% last year, according to the United Nations.
TPS is granted to nationals of designated countries facing unsafe conditions, such as armed conflict or environmental disasters.
US President Donald Trump has moved to overhaul parts of the US immigration system since returning to office and promised “mass deportations” and arrests.
This means they will lose their work permits and could be eligible for deportation.
On 1 February, the Trump administration announced the status would also end for Venezuelans living in the US, but this is currently facing a legal challenge from the National TPS Alliance.
“For decades the TPS system has been exploited and abused,” the Department for Homeland Security said in a statement on Thursday.
The system has allowed Haitians who “entered the US illegally, to qualify for legal protected status,” it added.
But the announcement has also been met with criticism.
More than 5,600 people in Haiti were killed in gang violence last year and the UN has said families are “struggling to survive in makeshift shelters while facing mounting health and protection risks”.
Democratic congresswoman Ayanna Pressley called the decision “shameful” amid the “unspeakable violence” in Haiti.
Haitians who have lived in the US for 15 years are at risk of deportation for “no reason other than being Haitian”, she added.
During his presidential campaign, Trump made a baseless claim that illegal immigrants from Haiti had been eating domestic pets in a small Ohio city.
City officials told BBC Verify there had been “no credible reports” this actually happened.
Then US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called the claim a “conspiracy theory… based on an element of racism”.
BBC
