Judge blocks DHS decision to revoke deportation amnesty for Haitians

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Homeland Security from terminating a long-standing deportation amnesty for Haitian migrants, ruling that Secretary Kristi Noem acted in defiance of the law.

Judge Brian Cogan, a George W. Bush appointee to the bench in New York, said the law only allows for a narrow window of time to end the amnesty and Ms. Noem acted outside that window.

He said the Haitians in question will remain under Temporary Protected Status for now.

“Because Secretary Noem does not have statutory or inherent authority to partially vacate a country’s TPS designation, her partial vacatur must be set aside as unlawful,” the judge said.

Haiti was first granted TPS after devastating earthquakes in 2010 and was expanded by the Biden administration.

The current grant was supposed to last until Feb. 3, 2026. Ms. Noem, though, issued a revised ruling saying it should end early, on Aug. 3.

On Tuesday, she published an official termination notice ending the TPS designation effective Sept. 2.

Judge Cogan said under the law, Ms. Noem cannot shorten a TPS timeline.

“In other words, Secretary Noem cannot reconsider Haiti’s TPS designation in a way that takes effect before February 3, 2026, the expiration of the most recent previous extension,” the judge concluded.

He said tens of thousands of Haitians have come to rely on TPS and were expecting it to last through next February. Withdrawing it before then is a significant harm that the court has the power to correct, he said.

The case was brought by nine Haitians here under TPS.

But Judge Cogan’s ruling goes beyond them, applying to some 260,000 Haitians covered by TPS.

His ruling comes just days after the Supreme Court ruled against universal injunctions that extend rulings beyond the parties in a case. Judge Cogan said his decision isn’t affected by that ruling because judges have independent power to halt agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Ms. Noem, in a notice Tuesday before the judge’s ruling, said granting the deportation amnesty was “contrary to the national interest.”

She said TPS served as a magnet for more illegal immigration and allowed potentially dangerous people to sneak into the U.S. without full vetting.

“Haitian gang members have already been identified among those who have entered the United States and, in some cases, have been apprehended by law enforcement for committing serious and violent crimes,” she said.