August 30, 2026
“No Hate, No Fear. Immigrants are welcome here.”
Dozens of activists gathered in Foley Square on Friday afternoon to denounce the Trump Administration’s policy of terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of an estimated 300,000+ Haitians and up to 700,000 people from other countries. Revocation of legal TPS status means they can no longer legally work here or even be here without risking arrest and deportation. For its part, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is promoting self-deportation with a free flight and exit bonus for Haitians that leave voluntarily. At the same time, DHS is highlighting the deportation of violent criminals, who are not representative of the now former TPS holders. People who have been convicted of crimes are ineligible for TPS by law. But termination of TPS has instantly reclassified hundreds of thousands of people as being here illegally and subject to deportation. A DHS tweet on X bluntly stated: “Haiti TPS has been TERMINATED. Those with terminated TPS are in our nation Illegally. They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED.“
The point was made at the mobilization that TPS revocation will have a bigger impact on care services than on crime.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told the Gazette that getting rid of TPS shows this was never about violent criminals. Rather, it was about anti-Black, anti-Brown, and anti-Immigrant. “We’re here to push back on the Trump policy that cruelty is the point. And we’re trying to make sure that Immigrants, Haitians, New Yorkers understand that they are welcome here,” he said.
“We’re here to push back on the Trump policy that cruelty is the point.”
Community Organizer Kerbie Joseph of Caribbean Defense addressed the activists saying, “We have seen what’s going on. In Ohio, Haitians are being required to put on ankle monitors. We have seen the signs of ICE all over the City. Have you seen it? Have you seen them walking around? Have you seen them harassing our community? Knocking on our doors. The same slumlords that harass my Haitians are the same slumlords that are pretending to be ICE agents to get Haitians out of their home.”
Joseph went on to acknowledge the “ICE Watch” security team monitoring the mobilization and said more ICE Watch is needed. “We need ICE Watch on every block. We need ICE Watch in every building. We need ICE Watch in our hospitals, unfortunately. We need ICE Watch in our schools, unfortunately.”
“We have seen the signs of ICE all over the City.“
Dahoud Andre from KOMOKODA said, “We’re here today because the Supreme Court gave Trump a green light to end Temporary Protected Status. The fact is, it wasn’t all that. Because people aren’t temporary. And they continue to destroy our country and yet they want us to go back. So at KOMOKODA, for years now, we’ve been fighting – together with other communities – for something called General Amnesty for all undocumented folks.”
“We’re here today because the Supreme Court gave Trump a green light to end Temporary Protected Status.”
He went on to say that that there are around 20 million undocumented people in USA, including some from Israel. And that is why, he explained, that a piecemeal solution for only Haitians and TPS is not the answer. “We don’t want anybody to be arrested, warehoused and deported.” Rather, Andre said, a solution for ALL is what’s needed.
The State Department still classifies Haiti as Do Not Travel.
