{"id":807920,"date":"2026-08-09T12:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/807920\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T12:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:58:16","slug":"after-haitian-tps-ends-many-are-facing-a-new-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/807920\/","title":{"rendered":"After Haitian TPS ends, many are facing a new reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A nurse who\u2019s no longer allowed to work at one of the city\u2019s top hospitals hunkered down in her Boston home, afraid ICE could be in the neighborhood.\n <\/p>\n

\n A mom texted a friend in Springfield, Ohio, with a panicked message: \u201cMy daughter is completely traumatized.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And residents in eastern Maryland came upon a jarring sight: cars left behind at gas stations with their engines still running.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey\u2019ve been arresting people left and right \u2014 some people in the middle of the streets. \u2026 We have people who went to the grocery store to cook for their kids and didn\u2019t return home,\u201d said Dr. Marie D. Fouch\u00e9, founder and executive director of Safe Harbor Circles, an organization in Salisbury, Maryland, that provides support to immigrants.\n <\/p>\n

\n In the weeks since the Supreme Court cleared the way<\/a> for the Trump administration to end deportation protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians, and in the days since a lower court judge took a key legal step<\/a> that made it official, a new reality has started to come into focus in communities that had been holding out hope for a last-minute reprieve.\n <\/p>\n

\n Fear and confusion are widespread among former holders of Temporary Protected Status<\/a>, or TPS, who had been allowed to work legally in the United States for years as part of the program and suddenly find themselves vulnerable to detention and deportation.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNow we have no protection,\u201d said Vil\u00e8s Dorsainvil, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center in Springfield. \u201cAnything can happen any time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Co-Founder<\/p>\n

\n Federal authorities have been tight-lipped about details of this phase in the administration\u2019s immigration crackdown, repeatedly stating that they won\u2019t discuss ongoing or future operations. They haven\u2019t released data about how many Haitians have been detained since TPS ended. And as of Saturday, advocates who closely track deportation flights hadn\u2019t logged any bound for Haiti in the past two weeks.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said last week that operations targeting Haitian TPS holders were underway.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re going after them right now. \u2026 These individuals can either self-deport, or we will arrest you and send you back. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d he told NewsNation on Tuesday<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Enforcement targeting former TPS holders, including Haitians, kicked up in late July and is expected to be ongoing, two sources with knowledge of the operations told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n At least five people contacted the Haitian Bridge Alliance advocacy organization last week reporting loved ones who were detained across the US, according to Guerline Jozef, the organization\u2019s executive director. Callers reported arrests of former TPS holders, who often were driving when they crossed paths with ICE, in Arizona, California, Indiana and Maryland, she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe fear is that the numbers will increase. Enforcement always happens, even when we don\u2019t hear it on the news. It is happening on a daily basis within the community,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Residents of one of the nation\u2019s most recent \u2014 and well known \u2014 Haitian enclaves<\/a> say they haven\u2019t yet seen an increase in ICE arrests. Springfield drew national attention after President Donald Trump baselessly accused Haitians there of eating pets during a campaign debate in 2024. And some have speculated that the Midwestern city and its some 15,000 Haitians residents would be a focus of arrests after TPS ended.\n <\/p>\n

\n Leaders in Springfield say the growing ICE presence many fear hasn\u2019t yet materialized. Hundreds of Department of Homeland Security letters arriving in the mail, however, have put the community on edge.\n <\/p>\n

\"Philbert<\/p>\n

\n \u201cPlease come to the office listed below at the time and place indicated in connection with an official matter,\u201d the letters read, according to a copy Dorsainvil shared with CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those who\u2019ve reported to ICE offices after receiving the notices have been outfitted with ankle monitors that allow authorities to track their location, Dorsainvil says, and many have been assigned court dates in about a month.\n <\/p>\n

\n The ankle monitors are part of a frequently used ICE program known as \u201calternatives to detention.\u201d But Dorsainvil says for many Haitians in Springfield, the devices evoke the painful history of shackles worn during slavery, and that he and other advocates unsuccessfully attempted to convince authorities the monitors weren\u2019t necessary.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, he says, many Haitians find themselves facing not only the social pressures of being unable to work and provide for their families, but also the psychological pressure of dehumanizing treatment.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s so\u2026humiliating,\u201d he says.\n <\/p>\n

\n The letters and ankle monitors have exacerbated an already tense situation, says Marjory Wentworth, a board member of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center who also works with G92, a faith-based organization advocating for immigrants in the community.\n <\/p>\n

\n Wentworth described a panicked text message she got from a friend, whose teenage daughter is afraid ICE will arrest her father.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s terrifying\u2026 the emotional and psychological stress on these individuals and these families,\u201d she says.\n <\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

\n Asked about the letters and ankle monitors, a DHS spokesperson told CNN that TPS was always intended to be temporary and invoked the administration\u2019s self-deportation program, which offers stipends to undocumented immigrants who choose to leave the country.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhat we would say now is it\u2019s closing time which means you don\u2019t have to go home, but you can\u2019t stay here,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThe good news is it\u2019s not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But a 29-year-old nurse in Boston told CNN that returning to Haiti now is out of the question for her and many others who fled the Caribbean nation after a devastating earthquake in 2010 only to watch in horror from afar as gang violence has made the country increasingly dangerous.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere are no jobs. Most of the hospitals are taken over by gangs or have been destroyed, and \u2026 the economy\u2019s not good. We don\u2019t have leaders or a government. It\u2019s just very unsafe,\u201d said the nurse, who asked to remain anonymous because now, without TPS, she fears for her safety.\n <\/p>\n

\n She\u2019s spent more than half of her life in the US and has been working as a nurse at one of Boston\u2019s top hospitals for eight years until last week, when she was forced to take a leave of absence after her work permit expired.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dealing with the possible end of TPS ever since the Trump administration first announced its termination, she says, has been like going through a never-ending cycle of the stages of grief.\n <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve gotten angry, I\u2019ve been in denial, I\u2019ve been frustrated\u2026and every time I think that, \u2018OK, I\u2019m accepting that this is it, this is the reality,\u2019 you go back through it again,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like this thing has been hanging over my head for years. And I\u2019ve tried to find a proper pathway to get me out of it, but it just feels like there wasn\u2019t one.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n These days, she\u2019s focusing her efforts on looking for nursing jobs abroad, and hoping another country will give her a chance to use the skills she trained so hard to learn before immigration crackdowns in the US intensify further.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey\u2019re losing a lot of us \u2014 a lot of people like me. We\u2019re willing to work. We\u2019re ready. We work very hard, and it feels like we\u2019re not needed, we\u2019re not valued, and all our years of service have gone (unnoticed),\u201d she says.\n <\/p>\n

\n Many businesses have been devastated by the loss of Haitian employees in recent weeks, according to Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition.\n <\/p>\n

\n The organization represents CEOs and associations in manufacturing, healthcare, elder care, construction, agriculture and hospitality. And Shi says at least two of its members were particularly hard hit by the end of TPS for Haitians: a resort hotel in Florida that lost more than 150 workers, and a senior center in Massachusetts that lost more than 50 employees.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s already having ripple effects, she says, noting that some nursing homes are now considering closing wings because they\u2019re short-staffed after losing so many workers.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe American workers that are on the team are not just missing their colleagues and team members, but also they\u2019re burning out. They\u2019re carrying way more extra load because a quarter of the workforce is gone,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Advocates and local leaders say they\u2019ve been observing the absence of Haitians on the streets of many communities, too.\n <\/p>\n

\n In Salisbury, which has become a hub for Haitians who work in nearby factories and farms, ICE recently started detaining people in parking lots and other areas immigrants frequent, according to Fouch\u00e9 of Safe Harbor Circles.\n <\/p>\n

\n The uptick in arrests prompted many Haitians to go into hiding, she says. \u201cPeople are not coming out.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

\n The streets in Haitian neighborhoods of New York City have also been noticeably quieter. David Duchatellier says business has plunged at his travel agency in Cambria Heights, which also provides money transfer services.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou don\u2019t see people walking around as they used to. They\u2019re staying inside because they\u2019re not working. They\u2019re not going to the supermarket to buy food. And that\u2019s affecting the economy, big time,\u201d he says.\n <\/p>\n

\n A Haitian American who\u2019s lived in the US for more than 50 years, Duchatellier says he\u2019s been writing to members of Congress to urge them to come up with a legislative compromise to help Haitians, and he hopes Trump\u2019s advisers will tell him how much a crackdown on Haitians will harm the US economy.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t cause this, but you can solve it, once and for all. \u2026 Nobody\u2019s giving him this advice right now. I wish I could just sit with him for just five minutes,\u201d Duchatellier says.\n <\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s still an opening for the administration to change course, he says.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n But many seem to be running out of hope.\n <\/p>\n

\n Fielding a growing number of calls from Haitians unsure of where to turn is overwhelming, says Judith Polidor, who works as a paralegal in Brooklyn\u2019s Little Haiti neighborhood.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s sadness all day. \u2026 They are crying. \u2026 Everybody has an emergency. \u2026 They need somebody just to listen,\u201d she says, \u201ceven though you cannot do nothing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nurse who\u2019s no longer allowed to work at one of the city\u2019s top hospitals hunkered down in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,11718,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-807920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-enterprise","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}