DHS Emails Reveal Illegal Process Behind Haiti TPS Termination as SCOTUS Decision Looms

A case built on false statements

Internal government emails released this week confirm that the Department of Homeland Security terminated Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Haitians without conducting the legally required consultation with the State Department — even while publicly claiming in a press release and in the Federal Register that such consultation occurred.miamiherald A June 3, 2025 memo obtained in a parallel lawsuit acknowledged that "as of June 2, USCIS has not received input from the Department of State on Haiti's TPS designation."miamiherald The revelation arrived as the Supreme Court prepares to issue a ruling before the end of June in Miot v. Noem, a case that could determine whether the administration can immediately cancel deportation protections for Haitian and Syrian migrants.npr

Career officials overruled at the eleventh hour

The documents also reveal a sharp reversal inside the agency's own bureaucracy. As late as May 27, 2025, a senior USCIS draft memo recommended "no decision/automatic extension" of Haiti's TPS, citing "recent escalation of violence" and warning that conditions made it "premature to commit to any permanent policy decision at this time."miamiherald That recommendation was reversed after landing on then-USCIS Director Joseph Edlow's desk. A June 13 email exchange between USCIS officials about a separate Venezuela termination made the Haiti situation explicit: "I can share that [Noem] recently elected to terminate Haiti without country conditions from the Department of State," one official wrote in response to a colleague who questioned whether the law permitted that approach.miamiherald

Haitian lawyers ask the court to start over

Armed with the new documents, lawyers for TPS holders filed a motion Tuesday asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the case and return it to the lower courts for further fact-finding.npr +1 The plaintiffs argue the justices were asked to rule before discovery was complete and therefore lack "a firm factual foundation" for the racial-discrimination claim — a challenge the government's own solicitor general conceded at oral argument was potentially reviewable by courts.npr "It should matter that former DHS Secretary Noem lied," said Emi MacLean of the ACLU of Northern California.aclunorcal

Stakes spanning a million lives

The ruling's reach extends far beyond Haiti. The administration has sought to end TPS for migrants from more than a dozen countries, affecting roughly one million people living legally in the United States.miamiherald About 145,000 Haitians with TPS — around a third of all beneficiaries — lived in Florida alone as of March 2025.miamiherald The United Nations estimates that gang violence has killed more than 2,300 people in Haiti since the start of the year, with 5.8 million Haitians — 52% of the population — facing crisis levels of food insecurity.miamiherald District Judge Ana C. Reyes, who blocked the termination in February, noted that the State Department's "Do Not Travel" advisory for Haiti remained in effect while the administration simultaneously argued the country was safe enough for deportations.miamiherald