Haiti TPS Holders File USCIS Emails to Undercut Trump Termination Rationale at Supreme Court
Lawyers for Haitian Temporary Protected Status holders have alerted the U.S. Supreme Court to three internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services emails they say undercut the Trump administration’s stated reasons for ending TPS for Haiti, in a case the justices will hear April 29 alongside a challenge to the Syria termination. In an April 9 filing, the plaintiffs cite a September 2025 email from a USCIS researcher saying her supervisor was "forcing" her to add a section claiming TPS acts as a "pull factor" for illegal migration, even though she wrote there was no empirical evidence to support that claim and that she wanted to go on record with her concern. A second email from the same researcher says a reference to terrorism 'hits' for Haiti was removed from a DHS analysis because it did not support 'the termination argument,' while a third email from another employee notes DHS data showing only 0.06% of Haitian TPS holders had any public-safety record and none were tied to known or suspected terrorists. Those documents follow lower‑court rulings, including one by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, finding former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Haiti decision likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act by ignoring the factual record, and come as the Trump administration presses the high court to rein in judges it says are improperly second‑guessing TPS terminations. The case could set nationwide standards for how rigorously future administrations must document and justify ending humanitarian protections for immigrants from countries affected by disasters and conflict.
📌 Key Facts
- On April 9, 2026, TPS holders for Haiti filed a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court citing three internal USCIS emails produced in discovery.
- A USCIS researcher wrote in September 2025 that she was being 'forced' to add a TPS 'pull factor' section to a Haiti report despite having no empirical evidence, and wanted to go on record with her concern.
- Another internal email said terrorism-related language was stripped from an analysis because it did not support 'the termination argument,' while DHS data showed only 0.06% of Haitian TPS holders had public-safety records and none were linked to known or suspected terrorists.
- The Supreme Court will hear combined arguments April 29 on the Trump administration’s bid to end TPS for Haiti and Syria after lower courts blocked former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s termination decisions as likely unlawful.
📊 Relevant Data
As of January 2026, there are approximately 330,000 Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders in the United States, contributing an estimated $5.9 billion to the U.S. economy each year.
Haitian TPS holders annually pay $805 million in federal and payroll taxes and $755 million in state and local taxes, filling essential jobs in healthcare, construction, and other industries.
NEW DATA REVEALS THE IMMENSE HUMAN AND ECONOMIC COST OF TERMINATING HAITI’S TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS — Haitian Bridge Alliance
More than half of Haitian TPS beneficiaries have resided in the United States for 20 years or more, with a median age of 47 years old in 2022.
A Statistical and Demographic Profile of the US Temporary Protected Status Populations from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti — Center for Migration Studies
Haitian migration to the United States has been driven by poverty, natural disasters such as earthquakes, political crises, insecurity, gang violence, and the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Haiti — Migration Policy Institute
As of March 31, 2025, approximately 1,297,635 individuals from 17 countries, including Syria, were protected by TPS in the United States, with Syrian TPS holders numbering around 7,000 eligible individuals as of early 2025 extensions.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS): Fact Sheet — Forum Together
Haitian immigrants in the U.S. are predominantly Black, with Black individuals comprising about 13.6% of the total U.S. population in 2022, while Haitian TPS holders show overrepresentation in essential low-wage sectors like healthcare and construction compared to their population share.
Haitian Immigrants in the United States — Migration Policy Institute
📰 Source Timeline (1)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time