Democrat-run New York City is dismissing Haitian workers after federal courts ordered the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate their Temporary Protected Status could continue.
The city was legally compelled to separate from affected Haitian city employees who lost their work authorization, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a Friday statement. The Department of Homeland Security’s termination of the workers’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS) took effect following a June Supreme Court decision in Mullin v. Doe which lifted the final legal barrier, The Associated Press reported.
“The City of New York was forced by federal law, as recently decided by the Supreme Court, to review the work authorization of Haitian TPS holders and separate from any employees who have not established alternative paths to legal work,” Mamdani said. The mayor went on to offer free legal help for those Haitians and said city staff would walk them through their options.
U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes, a Biden appointee, removed the legal block of the termination order Wednesday.
“[T]he Court’s Order, which had stayed the effective date of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status … pending judicial review, is no longer in effect,” the order said.
“We are continuing to litigate the Constitutional claim that remains live following the Supreme Court’s ruling,” Geoff Pipoly, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and lead counsel for the Haitian plaintiffs, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We are essentially in the same position that Venezuelan TPS holders found themselves in during the spring, summer, and early fall of 2025.”
Pipoly likened the Haitian plaintiffs’ position to that of Venezuelan TPS holders, whose protections were terminated in 2025 while the case was still being fought in court.
DHS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the New York City mayor’s office, the mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, District Council 37, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, and the New York Immigration Coalition did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s respective requests for comment.
Roughly 348,000 Haitians held Temporary Protected Status as of June 2025, according to the National Immigration Forum.
“TPS is a temporary benefit that does not lead to lawful permanent resident status or give any other immigration status,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. TPS is typically granted due to ongoing war, environmental disasters, or “extraordinary conditions.”
(DCNF)