Lawsuit challenges Trump's end to Haitian, Venezuelan deportation protections
March 3, 2025
In an aerial photograph taken with a drone, a group of mostly Venezuelan migrants camp on the tennis courts of a community center after losing access to other shelter in Seattle, Washington,
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BOSTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the Trump administration's decision to end temporary protections against deportation for thousands of Haitian and Venezuelan migrants living in the United States.
The
lawsuit in Boston federal court is the first legal challenge to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's
February 20 decision to speed up the expiration of deportation protections and work permits for 521,000 Haitians covered by the temporary program so that they will end in August.
The decision reversed a move by Democratic former President Joe Biden's administration last year to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti through February 2026. TPS was first granted to Haiti in 2010 following a devastating earthquake and has been renewed several times since.
Earlier in February, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had similarly moved to accelerate the end date for TPS for Venezuela from October 2026 to as early as April 2, an action that is already being
challenged in two other lawsuits.
That decision means about 348,000 Venezuelans could face deportation and the loss of work permits next month. The rest of the roughly 600,000 Venezuelans in the program could lose the legal status and associated benefits in September.
Biden's administration
first granted TPS to Venezuelans, citing high levels of crime in Venezuela related to political and economic instability under President Nicolas Maduro.
Monday's lawsuit was filed by the advocacy groups Haitian Americans United, Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts and UndocuBlack Network along with four individual Haitian and Venezuelan migrants in Boston, home to one of the largest populations of Haitians in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit argues that Republican President Donald Trump's administration lacked authority under the statute governing TPS to "pull the rug out from under vulnerable TPS recipients and rescind an extension that has already been granted."
The lawsuit also alleged DHS' actions were not based on criteria required under the TPS statute but rather on "pre-ordained conclusions motivated by racial bias and improper political influence."
The lawsuit cited "dehumanizing and disparaging statements" that Trump has made against Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants, including by making the false claim that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio were eating dogs and cats.
As a result, the lawsuit says the administration is discriminating against both groups of migrants based on their race, ethnicity or national origin in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment's equal protection guarantees.
The case is Haitian-Americans United, et al, v. Noem, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 25-cv-10498.
For the plaintiffs: Mirian Albert, Oren Sellstrom and Victoria Miranda of Lawyers for Civil Rights