Former President Trump said Wednesday he would revoke immigration status for Haitian migrants who are living legally in the U.S.
Why it matters: The comments mark yet another escalation in the GOP presidential nominee's rhetoric about immigration — this time targeting legal immigrants — and come after he repeatedly shared false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
- Trump previously told Time Magazine in April he wants to deport between 15 and 20 million immigrants if reelected.
Driving the news: Trump, speaking to NewsNation in Houston, Texas, said he would revoke the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants and "bring them back to their country."
- "In my opinion, it's not legal. It's not legal for anybody to do," Trump said.
- TPS is a federal program that allows migrants from some countries to legally live in the United States for a certain period when the conditions in their home country are unsafe.
- Migrants from Haiti, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Venezuela are among some countries eligible for the program, requiring participants to re-register with the Department of Homeland Security each year.
- Haitians have been included in the TPS program since January 22, 2010, following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed around 220,000 people.
- Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended TPS for Haitian migrants until February 2026 back in June.
Zoom out: Trump's administration previously paused TPS for approximately 400,000 migrants from Haiti, Nepal, Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, though a federal judge later halted the plan.
- The move was locked in litigation for years, until the Biden administration extended the TPS program for all countries, effectively ending the Trump plan.
- Any move to end TPS protection if Trump is re-elected in November would certainly meet another set of legal challenges.
What they're saying: Trump again disparaged the influx of migrants in Springfield, saying that placing thousands of them in the town just "doesn't work."
- "The community is so nice, and they want to be so politically correct," Trump said of Springfield. "You have to remove the people. You cannot destroy — we cannot destroy our country. You had a beautiful, safe community. Everyone's in love with everybody, everything was nice, it was like a picture community."
- Trump claimed that over 30,000 migrants have moved into Springfield, but city officials have stated that the number is between 12,000 and 15,000 in the entire county, not just the city.
Go deeper: Haitian group files criminal charges against Trump, Vance over pet-eating claims
