NEW YORK, CMC – Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke has welcomed a United States federal judge’s ruling in Brooklyn, New York, in favor of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants.
Judge Brian M. Cogan of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn earlier this month blocked President Donald J. Trump from ending TPS for more than 520,000 Haitians who are already in the United States.
Cogan ruled that the president’s attempt to suddenly rescind TPS for Haitians, many of whom have lived in the US for more than a decade, is unlawful.
The judge’s ruling preserves the Biden administration’s extension of TPS for Haitians until at least February 3, 2026.
“While Haiti continues to grapple with humanitarian, political and economic crises, and conditions continue to worsen without an end in sight, I am grateful for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York’s decision to extend protections for Haitian nationals until February of next year,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Friday.
“Since the announcement that TPS would end in September for hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants, my colleagues and I have relentlessly urged the Trump administration to extend protections for our most vulnerable neighbors,” added Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. “And though the administration failed to uphold its moral and legal obligations to do so, thankfully, some semblance of justice persists in this nation, and Haitians will remain protected for the time being.”
She said Haitian-Americans have “contributed immensely to our communities and our economy for decades.
“They are a beautiful people, with a culture deeply rooted and tied to this nation, and they deserve more than temporary relief,” the congresswoman said. “It is vital we carry on the momentum of this victory and do not relent in our advocacy to secure their lasting safety and prosperity.
“We must continue to encourage this administration to do everything in its power to save lives and bring stability to Haiti and security to its people,” Clarke added. “And that begins with extending Temporary Protected Status for those who need it most.”
New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the first Haitian-American serving in the New York State Legislature from New York City, also commended the federal court’s decision to block the Trump administration from “prematurely and cruelly ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals.
“I applaud SEIU 32BJ, which led the lawsuit, and all legal advocates for standing up for justice, including our State Attorney General Letitia James,” added Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest property service workers’ local union in the United States, sued the Trump administration, citing Trump’s “illegal efforts to vacate the Biden administration’s designation and expose hundreds of thousands of hard-working people, many of whom have spent decades living and working in the US, to deportation within just two months.”
Bichotte Hermelyn, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, told CMC that Cogan’s decision “upholds our constitutional values; recognizing the horrific realities in Haiti, while defending the legal rights of Haitians who built new lives here, and have called the US home for over a decade.
“This pivotal ruling affirms the fundamental legal principle that our government cannot arbitrarily upend the lives of immigrants, who have built their families, careers, and communities in this country under the protection of law,” she said.
“Haitian TPS recipients have escaped extreme terror and violence, as Haiti continues to grapple with unimaginable instability: rampant gang violence, political collapse, and the displacement of over a million people,” she added, stating that Haitian immigrants have used the opportunity to live in the US “to indelibly contribute to the fabric of New York City and the entire nation -achieving and serving as an outsized portion of our health care workers, educators, small business owners, and essential frontline workers.”
The assemblywoman said the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) attempt to strip away these protections months before their lawful expiration was “not only cruel, but also a blatant and targeted violation of TPS designations.”
Therefore, she said Cogan’s ruling is “a vital reprieve from this unconscionable attempt.
“However, this fight is not over,” Bichotte Hermelyn warned. “We must remain vigilant against Republicans’ ongoing efforts to dismantle humanitarian protections through xenophobic mass deportation.
“New York resolutely stands with our Haitian community, and we will never stop fighting for our right to live free from fear,” she affirmed.
32BJ SEIU President Manny Pastreich told CMC that the court victory “shows not only that we can fight back, but we can win.
“We are proud to have represented our Haitian members and the broader Haitian community – and we are grateful to our union brother, Gerald Michaud, and his wife, Nadége, for leading the way,” he added. “And while the fight is far from over, this is an important step.
“We will keep fighting to make sure this decision is upheld,” Pastreich continued. “We will keep fighting for the rights of our members and all immigrants against the Trump administration – in the streets, in the workplace, and the courts as well,” he said. “And when we fight, we win.”
With more than 185,000 members across 12 states and Washington, D.C., 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.
32BJ SEIU stated that its members come from 64 different countries and speak 28 different languages.
On July 1, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of TPS, leaving over 500,000 Haitians without work permits and facing deportation.
The temporary parole program for Haitians would expire on August 3, 2025, and the termination would take effect on September 2, 2025. But, in his ruling, Cogan said, “Secretary Noem does not have statutory or inherent authority to vacate a country’s TPS designation partially.”
Therefore, Cogan ruled that Noem’s “partial vacatur must be set aside as unlawful under the (Administrative Procedure Act).” He said that “plaintiffs’ injuries are actual and imminent,” stating that “an award of money damages cannot remedy them.
“If the partial vacatur remains in effect until the final resolution of this case, plaintiffs will lose their right to live and work in the United States based on what the court has already found was an unlawful action,” Judge Cogan added.
New York Attorney General Letitia James joined widespread condemnation of Trump’s termination of TPS for Haiti amid the French-speaking Caribbean country’s escalating humanitarian catastrophe.
“If our federal government deems Haiti unsafe for American citizens to visit, how can we justify deporting vulnerable families to the very same conditions?” asked James, urging the Trump administration to “promptly reconsider this decision and extend Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals.
Additionally, the New York Attorney General urged the US Congress to enact legislation that grants permanent legal status to TPS holders, who have “consistently demonstrated their value.”
Caribbean immigration advocates also denounced Trump’s termination of TPS for Haiti.
“The Trump administration’s decision to end TPS for Haiti is a cruel attack on Haitian New Yorkers and is another example of this administration’s ongoing efforts to destabilize immigrant communities and tear families apart,” Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, told CMC.
“Haitians are our family members, neighbors, our healthcare workers, our business owners–people who are vital to the social and economic fabric of New York,” he said. “Forcibly removing them and sending them back to the instability and violence they once fled is brutal and inhumane.”
Awawdeh said the Trump administration has no justifiable reason to put Haitian New Yorkers on a fast track to deportation other than “politics and cruelty”, calling on the New York Congressional Delegation and Congress to “act now and provide permanent protections for all TPS holders and stand against Trump’s cruel policies.”
According to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM), as of May 2025, over 1.3 million people in Haiti are internally displaced, many fleeing armed gangs that now control over 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
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