(RNS) — In a last-minute ruling on Monday (Feb. 2), a U.S. district judge in Washington halted the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to terminate temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants. TPS, which allows designated refugees to live and work in the United States, was set to expire on Tuesday (Feb. 3).
In her ruling on Miot v. Trump, which was filed in July 2025, Judge Ana C. Reyes said the TPS termination announced by DHS Secretary Krisi Noem was “null, void, and of no legal effect.”
In her opinion, Judge Reyes wrote that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s claims that Haiti’s current situation didn’t justify an extension of the status didn’t align with the certified administrative record’s findings that the island was plagued by a “perfect storm of suffering” and “staggering humanitarian toll.”
She also noted that Noem didn’t consult other agencies in taking her decision. The judge noted that she didn’t have unbounded discretion to end the status.
“Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. … This approach is many things—in the public interest is not one of them,” wrote Reyes.
In Springfield, Ohio, some 15,000 Haitians, whose legal residence in the country depends on the DHS program, have held their collective breath for months.
Monday’s ruling came a few hours before TPS sta …