Brooklyn elected officials and advocates gathered in Flatbush last week to call for an extension to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants.
New York City has more than 150,000 Haitian residents, most of whom live in Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn’s Haitian community is deeply rooted and plays an integral part to the borough — from educators and healthcare professionals to small-business owners and essential workers. Stripping TPS would jeopardize these contributions and destabilize countless lives,” said Congressmember Yvette Clarke in a statement.
Clarke said that TPS holders often have U.S.-born children, and revoking their status could tear up families and homes as well as affect the local economy. “TPS holders contribute significantly through taxes, commerce, and community engagement, and sending them back into an unsafe and unstable environment could have disastrous consequences — becoming a life-or-death situation for many Haitians in Brooklyn and across this nation,” said Clarke.
“Our neighbors from Haiti came here in need of refuge from an intense string of disaster, crisis, and political instability, and we stand proudly by their side in calling for an end to the Trump administration’s effort to revoke TPS for Haiti,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
TPS allows immigrants from designated countries experiencing turmoil to live and work legally in the United States. Haiti was initially given TPS status in response to the catastrophic earthquake that devastated the country in January 2010, killing more than 300,000 people and displacing more than 1.5 million. Since then, TPS for Haiti has been redesignated and extended numerous times because of additional natural disasters, public health crises, and political instability.
“Let’s be clear [about] reality on the ground: Haiti is a nation on the brink,” said Jocelyn McCalla, executive director of the Haitian American Foundation for Democracy. “The State Department has issued a do-not-travel advisory because of unprecedented gang violence, kidnappings, and civil unrest.
“Haiti remains mostly cut off from the world because international travel is difficult. Large swaths of the capital of Port-au-Prince are under the control of violent gangs, leading to a dysfunctional state unable to provide basic services or security for its citizens.”
The rally took place days before the Trump administration initially sought to terminate TPS for an estimated 500,000 Haitians.
In February, the U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would terminate Haiti’s TPS status effective September 2, 2025. However, a lawsuit filed by the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association forced the courts to extend TPS for Haitians temporarily — until February 2026.
“We’ve secured temporary breathing room until February 2026. While this is a significant victory, our fight is far from over,” said Councilmember Farah Louis at the rally. “Trump’s TPS termination is rooted in straight racism and xenophobia. It’s not policy. This administration uses fear and scapegoating to divide us, but Brooklyn stands united. When they come for our Haitian neighbors with lies and hatred, they attack the very fabric of what makes Brooklyn strong.”
Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest added that she was proud to stand with Haiti and the contributions of its people to the U.S. She also delivered an impassioned speech in Creole.
“When we see that there is a threat to TPS, we have to understand that this threat to one migrant country is also an attack on all immigrants,” she said.