Kristi Noem National Security Secretary announced Last month, that temporary protected state for about 5,000 Haitians would end on September 2, five months earlier than planned. The Trump administration has cited defective and contradictory evaluations of the conditions in Haiti, which is not wrong, remains insecure.
Although a district court in the United States arrested The action, at least temporarily, and restored the original termination date of February 3, the administration is likely to challenge the ruling. The result of such challenge could depend on whether the courts receive and believe a precise representation of current events in Haiti.
The administration affirms That “in general, the conditions of the country have improved to the point where Haitians can return home safely.” Nothing could be further from the truth. But few strangers are entering and abandoning the country lately, so the truth can be difficult to determine.
At the end of April and early May, as a researcher at Human Rights Watch, I traveled to the northern city of Cap-Haïtien. For the first time in several years that I have been working in Haiti, violence prevented me from reaching the capital, port prince, where the airport remains under a prohibition of the federal aviation administration since November when Gangs Shot Spirit, Jetblue and American Airlines passenger jets In flight.
In cap-haïtien, me speak with dozens of people who fled from the capital and other cities in recent months. Many shared accounts of murders, wounds of street bullets and rapes of gangs by members of the criminal group.
“We were walking towards school when we saw the bandits firing the houses, the people, everything that moved,” a 27-year-old woman, a Port-Au Prince student told me. “We started running back, but that was when [my sister] Guerline fell face down. They shot him on the back of the head, then I saw [my cousin] Alice shot at the chest. The student crawled under a car, where she hid for hours.
This unbridled violence is precisely the type of conditions that Congress had in mind when it approved the Temporary Protected State Law in 1990. It recognized a gap in the protection of situations in which a person may not be able to establish what has been the objective of persecution based on their beliefs or identity. The place.
When an administration grants this designation, it does so during a defined period, which can be extended depending on the conditions in the country of origin of the recipients. For example, the protected state for people from Somalia was First designated in 1991 And it has extended repeatedly, more recently until March 17, 2026.
Almost 1.3 million people are internally displaced in Haiti. They flee from the growing violence of criminal groups that He killed more than 5,600 people in 2024 – 23% more than in 2023. Some Analysts Let's say the country has the highest homicide rate in the world. The criminal groups control almost 90% of the capital and have expanded to other places.
Perversely, the National Security Department publicly admits this reality, citing in a notification of the Federal Registry “Generalized gang violence” as a reason for termination Temporary protected state. The Government argues that a “breakdown in governance” means that Haiti cannot control migration, so a continuous designation to protect people there would not be in the “national interests” of the United States.
Even judging only for that criterion, revoking the legal status of Haitians in the United States is a bad idea. Sending half a million people to Haiti would be very destabilizing and would counteract the interests of the United States, not to mention that their lives would be at risk.
The Trump administration has not taken significant measures to improve Haiti's situation. The multinational security support mission directed by Kenya, authorized By the UN Security Council and initially backed by the United States, it has been on the ground for a year. Still due to Severe shortage of personnel, resources and funds, has failed to provide the support that the Haitian police need desperately. At the end of February, UN Secretary General, António Guterres recommended Steps to strengthen the mission, but the Security Council has not yet acted.
He humanitarian situation In Haiti he continues to deteriorate. It is estimated that 6 million people need humanitarian assistance. Almost 5.7 million face acute hunger.
On June 26, just one day before the attempt of national security to end the protected status of prematurely Haitians, Secretary of State Christopher Landau described The crisis in progress in Haiti is “discouraging.” He said that “public order has almost collapsed” as “Haiti descends to chaos.” Two days before, the United States Embassy in Haiti issued A security alert urges US citizens in the country to “leave as soon as possible.” These are not indications that “the country's conditions have improved to the point that Haitians can return home,” as National Security said on June 27.
The decision to end prematurely the temporary protected state is completely disconnected from reality. The Trump administration itself warned that Haiti is still dangerous, and if something has become more in recent months. The United States government should continue to protect Haitians who now live in the United States from being thrown into the brutal violence that develops in their country of origin.
Nathalye Cotrino is a main researcher of the Americas in Human Rights Watch.
