Contributor: If Haiti has become more violent, why end the temporary protected status of Haitians in the United States?
Interior Security Secretary Kristi Noem announcement Last month, this temporary protected status for around 5,000 Haitians would end on September 2, five months earlier than expected. The Trump administration has cited erroneous and contradictory assessments of conditions in Haiti – which, do not be mistaken, remains dangerous.
Although a American district court interrupted Action – at least temporarily – and restored the date of initial termination of February 3, the administration is likely to contest the decision. The result of such a challenge could depend on whether the courts receive and believe a precise representation of current events in Haiti.
Administration affirmation that “overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can go home safely”. Nothing could be further from the truth. But few foreigners are entering and leaving the country lately, so the truth can be difficult to determine.
At the end of April and early May, as a researcher for Human Rights Watch, I went to the city in the north of Cap-Haitian. For the first time for several years when I work in Haiti, violence prevented me from reaching the capital, Port-au-Prince, where the airport remains under a ban on the administration of federal aviation since November, when Gangs Shot Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines Passenger Jets in flight.
In Cap-Haitian, I radius With dozens of people who have fled the capital and other cities in recent months. Many stories have shared murders, wounds of wandering bullets and gang rapes by members of the criminal group.
“We head to school when we saw the bandits shoot in houses, people, to everything that has moved,” said a 27-year-old woman, a student from Port-au-Prince. “We started going back, but that’s where [my sister] Guerline fell in front. It was killed at the back of the head, then I saw [my cousin] Alice pulled in the chest. The student crawled under a car, where she hid for hours.
This crawl violence is precisely the Sort of Conducts Had in mind when passed the temporary protected status law in 1990. It recognized a gap in protection for situations in which a person might not be able to establish that they have been targeted for persecution on the basis of their belief for Permanent asylum claims – But rather when a person’s life is at real risk because high levels of generalized violence that make it too dangerous for anyone to be return in the place.
When an administration grants this designation, it does it for a defined period, which can be extended according to the conditions of the country of origin of the beneficiaries. For example, the protected status of people in Somalia was Appointed for the first time in 1991 And has been extended several times, more recently until March 17, 2026.
Nearly 1.3 million people are displaced internally in Haiti. They flee growing violence by criminal groups that killed more than 5,600 people in 2024 – 23% more than in 2023. Some analysts Let’s say that the country has the highest homicide rate in the world. Criminal groups control almost 90% of the capital and extended to other places.
Perversely, the Ministry of Internal Security publicly concedes this reality, Quoting in a notification of a federal register “Widespread violence of gangs” as a reason for termination Temporary protected state. The government argues that a “rupture of governance” makes Haiti unable to control migration, and therefore a continuous designation to protect people from there would not be in the “national interests” of the United States.
Even to judge this criterion alone, to revoke the legal status of Haitians in the United States is a bad idea. Sending half a million people in Haiti would be very destabilizing and contrary to American interests – without forgetting that their life would be in danger.
The Trump administration has taken no significant measure to improve Haiti’s situation. The multinational security support mission led by Kenya, allowed By the United Nations Security Council and initially supported by the United States, has been on the ground for a year. Again due to Serious shortages of staff, resources and funding, he failed to desperately provide the support of the Haitian police. At the end of February, the UN secretary general António Guterres recommended Steps to strengthen the mission, but the Security Council has not yet acted.
THE humanitarian situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate. It is estimated that 6 million people need humanitarian assistance. Almost 5.7 million faces acute hunger.
On June 26, just one day before the attempt at internal security to end prematurely the protected status of Haitians, the deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau describe The current crisis in Haiti as “discouraging”. He said that “public order has practically collapsed” while “Haiti descends in chaos”. Two days earlier, the United States Embassy in Haiti issuing A security alert urging American citizens in the country to “leave as soon as possible”. These are not indications that “country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can go home safely”, as internal security claimed on June 27.
The decision to put an end prematurely to a temporary protected status is completely disconnected from reality. The Trump administration itself has warned that Haiti remains dangerous – and if something has become even more in recent months. The US government should continue to protect Haitians living in the United States now against the brutal violence that takes place in their country of origin.
Nathalye Cotrino is principal researcher in America at Human Rights Watch.
