U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing operations to arrest and deport Haitian migrants as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for more than 300,000 Haitians are set to end, according to two agency sources and internal federal documents obtained by CBS News.
The plans include arrests in Ohio, home to large Haitian communities, followed by deportation flights to Haiti, with operations potentially beginning as early as this week.
The preparations follow a Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to end TPS for Haitians, with the ruling's mandate expected to take effect Monday. Haitians who lose TPS also lose authorization to work legally in the United States and become subject to immigration enforcement unless they hold another legal status.
Those without existing removal orders generally remain entitled to immigration court proceedings before deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to discuss specific operations, telling CBS News it "does not discuss ongoing or future operations." The agency did argue that TPS had become "a defacto amnesty program" and urged migrants losing protection to self-deport. "It's closing time which means you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here," the department said, adding that eligible migrants could receive a government-funded flight and a $2,600 payment to leave voluntarily.
The end of TPS has especially raised concerns about its impact on Florida's workforce. An estimated 145,000 Haitians living in the state are covered by the program, including roughly 36,350 employed in health care, according to estimates cited by the Palm Beach Post. Nursing homes, hospitals and home health agencies have warned that losing those workers would worsen existing labor shortages.
The uncertainty has prompted an unusual response from South Florida Republicans. Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez have called on the administration to extend TPS, arguing Haiti remains too unstable for returns. "TPS needs to be upheld," Salazar said, while Giménez said Haiti remains "the prime example of why TPS was established in the first place."
Advocates cite ongoing gang violence and the State Department's Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory for Haiti as reasons to maintain protections. Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, told CBS News the prospect of deportations has left many families living in "extreme trauma, fear and terror."
