Miami mayor slams Trump for asking federal judge to end TPS for Haitians during court appeal process
By Sergio R. Bustos
February 6, 2026 at 7:56 PM EST
Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins on Friday condemned the Trump administration's decision to appeal a federal judge's ruling protecting Haitian immigrants nationwide from being deported.
"This move creates unnecessary fear and instability for hundreds of thousands of people who are living and working legally, raising families, and contributing to our communities," Higgins said in a statement. "It is cruel, and it inflicts even more uncertainty and hardship on a community that has already endured far too much."
South Florida, including Miami, is home to about 100,000 Haitians with Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. Nationwide, roughly 350,000 Haitian immigrants are TPS holders.
"Miami is a city of immigrants, built by immigrants, and our Haitian community is part of the backbone of our city," Higgins said. "Continuing to push legal uncertainty instead of providing stability is wrong, and it puts families, workers, and critical systems like healthcare at risk.
"We need compassion, clarity, and leadership, not appeals that prolong fear and chaos," she added.
Late Thursday, the Trump administration asked U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to allow it to end TPS for Haitian immigrants, while it appeals her ruling blocking the termination.
Reyes ruled last Monday that a lawsuit challenging the termination was likely to prevail on its merits. TPS for Haitians was set to end last Tuesday.
The Trump administration wants Reyes to issue a decision by this coming Monday. If she denies the request, it could ask an appeals court to pause her ruling.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs objected to that timeline in a court filing, arguing there was no emergency that requires the sudden termination of Haiti’s TPS status.
The administration has separately appealed Reyes’ ruling blocking the termination of TPS for Haiti.
In her ruling, Reyes said the Homeland Security Department’s TPS termination process for Haitians not only violated the law — it "likely" involved racial discrimination as well.
Congress created TPS in 1990. It allows migrants from countries torn by natural disaster or political violence to stay and work in the U.S. for 18-month periods — or longer if those countries remain unsafe to return to. The DHS secretary makes the decision to extend or end TPS.
The Trump administration has aggressively sought to remove TPS, making more people eligible for deportation. The moves are part of the administration’s wider, mass deportation effort.
In addition to the migrants from Haiti, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has terminated protections for about 600,000 Venezuelans, 60,000 people from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal, more than 160,000 Ukrainians and thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Some have pending lawsuits in federal courts.
Haiti’s TPS status was initially activated in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and has been extended multiple times. The country is racked by gang violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
"This move creates unnecessary fear and instability for hundreds of thousands of people who are living and working legally, raising families, and contributing to our communities," Higgins said in a statement. "It is cruel, and it inflicts even more uncertainty and hardship on a community that has already endured far too much."
South Florida, including Miami, is home to about 100,000 Haitians with Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. Nationwide, roughly 350,000 Haitian immigrants are TPS holders.
"Miami is a city of immigrants, built by immigrants, and our Haitian community is part of the backbone of our city," Higgins said. "Continuing to push legal uncertainty instead of providing stability is wrong, and it puts families, workers, and critical systems like healthcare at risk.
"We need compassion, clarity, and leadership, not appeals that prolong fear and chaos," she added.
Late Thursday, the Trump administration asked U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to allow it to end TPS for Haitian immigrants, while it appeals her ruling blocking the termination.
Reyes ruled last Monday that a lawsuit challenging the termination was likely to prevail on its merits. TPS for Haitians was set to end last Tuesday.
The Trump administration wants Reyes to issue a decision by this coming Monday. If she denies the request, it could ask an appeals court to pause her ruling.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs objected to that timeline in a court filing, arguing there was no emergency that requires the sudden termination of Haiti’s TPS status.
The administration has separately appealed Reyes’ ruling blocking the termination of TPS for Haiti.
In her ruling, Reyes said the Homeland Security Department’s TPS termination process for Haitians not only violated the law — it "likely" involved racial discrimination as well.
Congress created TPS in 1990. It allows migrants from countries torn by natural disaster or political violence to stay and work in the U.S. for 18-month periods — or longer if those countries remain unsafe to return to. The DHS secretary makes the decision to extend or end TPS.
The Trump administration has aggressively sought to remove TPS, making more people eligible for deportation. The moves are part of the administration’s wider, mass deportation effort.
In addition to the migrants from Haiti, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has terminated protections for about 600,000 Venezuelans, 60,000 people from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal, more than 160,000 Ukrainians and thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Some have pending lawsuits in federal courts.
Haiti’s TPS status was initially activated in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and has been extended multiple times. The country is racked by gang violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.