ICE Speculated to Crack Down on Haitian Nationals

This administration repeatedly displays its lack of humanity

By: Austin Abbring

July 30, 2026

ICE is expected to begin mass roundups and deportations of Haitian nationals as early as this weekend. Three days ago, the Trump administration rescinded Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for at least 300,000 Haitians and thousands of Syrians. A large number of Haitians have been under TPS since 2010, as we saw a mass influx of people take refuge in the U.S. following the devastating earthquake that destroyed massive amounts of infrastructure in the country as well as claiming the lives of at least 200,000 people. These people have been working, living, and raising families here for nearly two decades now following continual renewal by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to extend their status.

For those unaware, TPS, as the name suggests, is a temporary immigration status that protects individuals from deportation, provides work authorization, and allows for legal residence in the U.S. if an individual's country is ravaged by a medical emergency, a war, a natural disaster, a government collapse, et cetera. This is strictly a temporary immigration status and not a legal pathway to citizenship. In mass, DHS conducts periodic reviews based on the safety of the person(s)' home country to either renew protected status or begin the removal process. All applicants must pass background checks and have no serious criminal record prior to entering the United States.  For any Republican or MAGA readers I may have, before you make any unsubstantiated claims about voting strategy or their status, the people here on TPS cannot vote in federal elections, are fully protected by the Constitution, and pay over $4 billion in taxes every single year into programs they cannot draw from. In fact, TPS individuals pay nearly $700 million in Social Security taxes annually but cannot access those funds. 

This rescission of TPS for Haitians and Syrians is simply beyond cruel by the Trump administration. As mentioned above, DHS reviews whether or not it is safe to return people to their home country, and Haiti is far from stable. The State Department still maintains a Level 4 (do not travel) travel advisory for Haiti. This is due to the civil unrest and government corruption, kidnappings, violent crime, mass gang violence and control, and a cholera outbreak with limited healthcare infrastructure and no real system to care for people or combat public health crises. There is absolutely no excuse to strip away legal work permits and protections that prevented these people from being deported. 

This is a new level of deplorable. There is no home country to return Haitians to that is safe, viable, or equitable. With ICE expected to crack down in places like Ohio and Florida, I am expecting to see large protests from neighborhoods and from the individuals facing deportation themselves, as this is nearly a death sentence. Given the expeditious decision, I fear even more violence and brutality from Trump and Stephen Miller’s paramilitary Gestapo in response as they attempt to make arrests. This is a large population of people to detain, process, and deport, and these people will not go quietly. 

Why would they? Many of them have been working in this country for nearly two decades. They have been paying taxes, are neighbors, have developed friendships, have children here, have followed the law, are employees of small businesses, and are contributors to the economy.  All of that to now have an administration strip that legality and security away to mass detain you and deport you back to a country in shambles, that we advise our own citizens to not even travel to - let alone live in. 

This is a joke. And it is a very cruel joke. It was never about deporting violent criminals or implementing some sort of serious, viable immigration reform that we desperately need. It is instead pure racism through and through; it is exploitation, it is malignity, it is heartbreaking, it is inhumane. This administration made a perilous pledge to arrest at least 3,000 people a day. The problem is that we did not have an immigrant “problem”. We have a system and processing problem. There are not this many violent criminals to remove; there are not even that many people to legally deport to match the numbers cited by this administration. It is all an excuse to remove brown people from this country. And that prospect, unfortunately, still excites many people.