US judge halts Trump plan to end protections for 350,000 Haitians

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from revoking legal protections for more than 350,000 Haitians in the U.S., preventing their potential deportation to a country that has been ravaged by gang violence.



U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., halted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's effort to terminate Haiti's Temporary Protected Status. The move would have taken effect on Wednesday despite spiraling violence there that has displaced more than 1.4 million ‌people.



Reyes, who was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden, issued the ruling in a class-action lawsuit brought by Haitians seeking to stop the administration from exposing them to deportation by ending their legal status.



Reyes said in the ruling that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem likely violated the procedures required to terminate the protected status of Haitian immigrants in the U.S. as well as the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.



"Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely," Reyes wrote.



The law firm representing the plaintiffs, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, praised the ruling, noting that Haiti remains extremely dangerous.