DHS Offers ‘Temporary’ Amnesty to More than 300,000 Haitians in U.S.

YUMA, ARIZONA- MAY 20: Immigrants from Haiti, who crossed through a gap in the U.S.-Mexico
Mario Tama/Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended and redesignated a temporary amnesty program to more than 300,000 Haitian nationals living in the United States, ensuring they are not eligible for deportation and can hold American jobs.

Late last week, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 309,000 Haitian nationals living in the U.S. who would otherwise be eligible for deportation.

The announcement shows that again, Biden’s DHS is looking to massively expand TPS. Previously just about 165,000 Haitians were eligible for the program.

With the latest extension and redesignation, nearly double the amount of Haitian nationals will be eligible to remain in the U.S. and hold American jobs through February 2026 as long as they claim that they were in the country as of June 3, 2024.

“We are providing this humanitarian relief to Haitians already present in the United States given the conditions that existed in their home country as of June 3, 2024,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “In doing so, we are realizing the core objective of the TPS law and our obligation to fulfill it.”

TPS was first created under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 (INA) and prevents federal immigration officials from deporting people from countries that are designated as experiencing famine, war, or natural disasters.

Since the Clinton administration, TPS has been transformed into a de facto amnesty program as the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and now Biden administrations have continuously renewed the program for a variety of countries.

Today, nearly 900,000 foreign nationals in the U.S. are shielded from deportation after having secured TPS. The vast majority are from Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, and Ukraine.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.

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