Temporary Protected Status may be a controversial topic to some, but for others, it’s an avenue to the American dream.

That’s how one Haitian immigrant in Southwest Florida felt. But now, it’s being taken away from him.

He requested anonymity for fear of retribution and is referred to for this article as Emmanuel.

Those from multiple countries face TPS eliminations, including Somalia and Ethiopia. As of 2024, Florida is home to the largest Haitian population in the U.S. with more than 27,000 Haitians living in Southwest Florida alone, primarily in Lee and Collier counties. Throughout the country, there are more than 1 million.

Leap of faith

Emmanuel came to the U.S. on a small boat, seeking asylum in 2006. He left behind his wife and seven children after Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti.

He was denied asylum because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services found no basis to grant it. Despite the rejection, he remained in the U.S. as an undocumented person, keeping silent for four years.

Emmanuel said the conditions in his country, due to gangs, were dangerous at the time and not conducive to a productive and honest life where he could support his family. He said he felt that coming to the U.S. was the only way he could do so, sending money back home.

“They persecuted me,” Emmanuel said, speaking in Haitian-Creole. WGCU had his interview translated. “They wanted me to be associated with them, to be one of them, but I did not get involved. Sometimes they want you to be a thug like them, to get involved in their wrongdoings. I did not want to get involved.”

Then, in 2010, disaster struck Haiti, providing the opportunity for Haitian nationals to apply for TPS. This allowed them to live and work in the U.S. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for Emmanuel to support his family with an honest living, even though he couldn’t be there with them in-person.

Tragedy strikes

The disaster was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake, according to the national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which struck outside Port-au-Prince. The temblor took the lives of more than 300,000 people, injuring 300,000 more, while affecting more than 1.3 million.

The already impoverished country was left decimated, with catastrophic damage dealt to an already fragile infrastructure.

Now, he said there’s been no change in Haiti and in fact it is even worse with rampant gang violence. The U.S. currently lists Haiti under a level four travel advisory, the highest possible.

“I left the country a long time ago,” Emmanuel said. "Now it is worst. It is no good, no good. Gangs everywhere. They are killing people. So many people get killed.”

And Haitian TPS has expired, meaning Emmanuel is no longer able to work his agriculture job in Immokalee. In fact, he had to stop working in April 2024 because such opportunities slowed as heated political rhetoric increased.

“Since I came here, my sister has been with us,” Emmanuel said. “We’ve been living in the same house. When I was working, we put our money together and we paid the rent together, but when I was not working, she was the one who paid it.”

On a quest for the American dream

Emmanuel’s sister, 74-year-old Rose, immigrated to the U.S. in 1982 in search of work, and has been living in Southwest Florida since. WGCU is also not directly identifying her.

Rose said the violence did not start at the point her brother left, but decades before, preventing her from working and supporting herself.

“I came here because, in my country, things were not going well, and I said to myself let me come here so I can try something else,” Rose said in Haitian-Creole. “Because is different than other counties. When you go to a different country, you can find work. There’s no work in my country, you understand. Here you can work and send money home.”

Rose said even food is scarce, and they both feel a responsibility to send home what they can.

“There isn’t anything else we can do,” Rose said. “When we worked and had a bit of money, we sent a bit of what we had to them in Haiti, sometimes we buy them some stuff here, and we send it to them so they can eat.”

Rose worked as a farm worker, picking tomatoes and peppers for decades before moving to working in the packing house to get out of the hot sun. She retired at 62 and now relies on Social Security to pay her $120-per-month rent, down from more than $600.

It took Rose nine years to receive amnesty in 1991 under the Immigration Reform and Control Act. That act was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and imposed penalties on employers who knowingly hired illegal immigrants. It also offered an avenue for immigrants to receive legal status who had been in the U.S. since 1982 and to farmworkers if they could show at least 90 days of employment.

Rose said that even after all those years, her native country remains unsafe.

“Going back to Haiti?! Haiti is not safe yet,” Rose said. “They are killing people now. They’re so many problems; we can’t live there. They may kidnap you. They may ask for a ransom you can’t pay, and if you can’t pay, they kill you. Whether you’re a baby or an elder, they do not discriminate.”

"It's a death sentence"

Beatrice Jacquet-Castor is a local business owner who represents Haitians as the current president and co-founder of the Haitian-American Community Coalition of Southwest Florida.

Jacquet-Castor said going back to Haiti now is tantamount to a death sentence.

“What I know, not what I think, but what I know will happen is if they deport those right now that doesn’t have a place to live, that can’t really take care of themselves because they don’t have anything back home, what will happen is that they will be killed by gang members because the gang members look at them as, ‘hey, you’ve been in the U.S. all along, and now you’re coming back,’ so therefore I’m gonna go ahead and take your life just to make a statement to the United States," Jacquet-Castor said.

Odelyn Joseph

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AP Photo

Jacquet-Castor said she speaks with countless Haitian immigrants in Southwest Florida and said the notion that one could be detained and deported at virtually any time is terrifying.

“They are walking in fear,” Jacquet-Castor said. “They are unable to sleep. They are unable to actually feel like they’re free. The mental health is just not good.”

And she said it’s not just those under TPS who are frightened.

“They have been doing everything to get him legalized a proper channel,” Jacquet-Castor said. “On his way to work, they (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) pulled him over, and they arrested the husband. Then she went into a panic attack and can’t even mentally take care of the (five) kids because she was so disturbed by what had happened.”

Jacquet-Castor said this is a recurring theme and is the source of the problem — a broken immigration system. Indera DeMine, co-founder of DeMine Immigration Law Firm in downtown Fort Myers, explains.

Just wait your turn?

“Why haven’t they tried to gain legal status after 16 years,” DeMine said? “The bottom line is they don’t have a pathway. The legal immigration system is so broken, and I think Americans are not aware of this,” DeMine said. “There’s this term that’s thrown around, ‘just wait your turn in line,’ and I wish folks understand that one, there isn’t a line to wait, and our immigration laws are some of the most restrictive immigration laws in the world.”

DeMine said the U.S. offers very limited self-sponsorship options, most notably the National Interest Waiver (NIW) making it hard for qualified individuals to immigrate lawfully compared to merit-based systems, like Canada. This leaves individuals with no other choice but to apply for temporary programs or enter the country unlawfully.

The primary difference between the two is that the NIW allows individuals to bypass employer sponsorship and labor certification, whereas a merit-based system scores applicants based on attributes, such as age, education, and language skill.

“I can tell you right now, very rarely do I meet someone who has a pathway to a green card or citizenship and chose to be undocumented,” DeMine said. “I don’t know who would choose that. No one chooses TPS. They’re pigeonholed into applying for TPS even though they’re married with three U.S. citizen children. So, this could be the only pathway that’s available to them.”

Time for a revamp

DeMine said even lawful processes can take years and that laws don’t match current migration realities. She said the laws haven’t been completely updated since the 1990’s.

“We haven’t had any sort of comprehensive immigration reform since then,” DeMine said. “And you see immigration has changed dramatically in the last 20-something 30 years.”

Jacquet-Castor said there are too many hoops to jump through, especially when you have virtually nothing to your name.

“Immigration—it’s all about money,” Jacquet-Castor said. “What happened is right now with everything that is happening, all the fees for different forms has increased, and they have imposed new fees, but they refuse to give them a work permit to be able to work and pay those fees.”

This leaves individuals with no other choice but to apply for temporary programs or enter the country unlawfully.

According to USCIS, if you are immigrating to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident, it’s $235. A new fee schedule was implemented Sept. 9, 2026. More information on other forms and fees can be found on the USCIS website.

"We don't want to leave home"

“Put yourself into somebody else’s shoe,” DeMine said. “You’re Jose in Mexico, and you have three children, and cannot make ends meet to support them, and the cartels are in your community, and you’re afraid that they are going to recruit your young son to sell drugs on their behalf just across the border is what’s considered this land of opportunity.”

DeMine said it’s not that these immigrants want to leave home, rather they need to in order to make ends meet. She acknowledged that while there are bad apples that can spoil any bunch, the majority of Haitian immigrants seeking legal status in the U.S. only want to work and contribute to society in a positive way, possibly sending money back home to their family.

“When you are an immigrant from another country, you look to the United States as a beacon of hope,” DeMine said. “You look to the United States as this land of opportunity. Immigrants that come to the United States come with this desire to do better than what they left behind.”

Emmanuel and Rose saw the U.S. like this — where they could safely work for an honest living.

"You made them criminals"

But DeMine said there’s another issue compounding the situation for them and hundreds of thousands of others, preventing them from achieving the American dream — heated political rhetoric on a national level.

“Immigrants are used as the scapegoat,” DeMine said. “If I am running for office, especially in a very sort of Republican area, immigration is always a heated topic, or a topic that you can garner support around. Because people need something, someone, to focus their energy or to blame. High crime rate, the immigrant. No jobs, the immigrant and so on.”

Jacquet-Castor said this just sets immigrants up for failure, no matter their country of origin.

“People are not temporary,” Jaquest-Castor said. “We are talking about a life-and-death situation. What you’re doing is you’re turning them into criminals. What you’re doing is you’re just working against them because you no longer want them here. You made them become a criminal when you stripped them of their rights.”

Jacquet-Castor said it seems there is a cultural shift unfolding across the U.S. as a result of the heated political rhetoric.

“We are (now) disconnected as an American people,” Jacquet-Castor said. “We no longer have compassion for our neighbor. The United States is portrayed as the home of the freedom. (Meanwhile) we are sending people back to be murdered in their own country. It’s like you’re working against your constitution.”

Do your research

Both DeMine and Jacquet-Castor said the source of this issue is simple — lack of knowledge on the subject and the oversimplification of complex issues. They both said that if you think the elimination of Haitian TPS won’t impact you, think again.

“They’re not educating themselves,” Jacquet-Castor said. “They’re like ‘get them out, get them out.’ But what is it that they’re really doing? The same person when you’re lying down in that nursing home is the one that cleaning your butt. You understand?”
According to the Migration Policy Institute, 22% of the 510,000 employed Haitian in the U.S. in 2024 worked in some form of healthcare.

And its not just the healthcare industry where Haitian nationals pull their weight and contribute to society.

“Have you ever thought when you go to the restaurant, who is cleaning your dishes,” Jacquet-Castor said? “Who is taking your order? Who is cooking your food? It’s immigrants, so they’re (the average American) not thinking.”

Haitian immigrants are also faith leaders throughout communities, such as Eunique Castor, head pastor at Hallelujah Community Church in Fort Myers. He came to the U.S. on vacation in the 1990’s and decided he wanted to move here. Now, he’s a U.S. citizen, living lawfully in the country for more than 30 years.

He said before Haitian TPS ended, his Sunday services would see 50-70 people. Now, he sees 20, maybe 30.

“Yeah, that speaks for itself because, because they were afraid,” Castor said. “So, that not affecting only other entities, but also the church.”

And it’s not only his church in the area that he said is hemorrhaging people.

“Not only here, Hallelujah, coming to church…that happened to every other church that we go into, the same thing,” Castor said.

Castor said he feels a duty as a religious leader and Haitian immigrant to be there for his community in uncertain times.

“They go to sleep, they don’t know what’s gonna happen next day,” Castor said. “If they go to work, they don’t know if they’re gonna come back home.”

Castor said it’s not that they don’t want to go home, they are just too scared to do so. That’s how Rose and Emmanuel said they feel.

“We would love to go, but we can't"

“It is a mess,” Rose said in Haitian-Creole. “We would have already gone to Haiti. We would not stay here for that long. We would love to go, but we can’t. Our country is nice, but the gangs made it ugly. They kill everyone. When you are building (it’s) beautiful. But when you’re (you) demolish, it is not beautiful. It is ugly”

Jacquet-Castor said she thinks the average American assumes Haitians do not want to go home, even if their country is safe.

“It’s not that the people doesn’t want to go home—there’s nothing to go back to,” Jacquet-Castor said.

Regardless, Emmanuel said he will not fight or resist any attempts to send him home.

“Well, if the government wants me to go, if it’s an obligation for me, then I have to go,” Emmanuel said. “I would have no choice to go. I wouldn’t want to go like that. I would be scared to go like that.”

When asked, “If President Trump were in the room, what would you say to him?” Emmanuel said: “The president is human. He makes his own decision(s). If he were in this room, we would listen to what he has to say and we say thank you President Trump, but we have faith in God. One day everything will change. He is not our father, God is. He’s determined to do whatever he wants to do. I will put God first, and God will fight for me.”

Rose said: “He can say he is a Christian, but when someone is true Christian, he does what is right. King Nebuchadnezzar thought he was doing God’s work until God removed him from power. He realized that he was not doing God’s work. When you’re doing what is wrong, God is not with you. But when you’re doing what’s right, God is with you. God will not support wickedness. He will not change. Only God can change (him).”

Rose has no family. She said her husband “was just working in the packing house, and they told me that he fell, and never woke up.”

“Back home,” Rose said? “If he goes, I cannot stay here by myself, you understand? I would have to go too. I’m not going to stay here by myself. I don’t have kids. I don’t have anyone else. Nothing else. Just my brother. If he goes, I go.”

Keeping the faith

Why will Emmanuel not resist? Faith.

“You are human,” Emmanuel said. “You are a child of God. I know you feel sorry for us. We are all children of God. But some people only choose to destroy —they are truly not children of God. Sometimes, you have to lay low to not get killed.”

Both Emmanuel and Rose said that even through these are difficult times, their faith that their homeland will once again be safe and beautiful will not waiver as they said God remains on their side.

“For us, we are Christ servants,” Emmanuel said. “We are religious. As such, we believe things may change at any moment, unexpectedly, in a blink of an eye. But only God can do that…he can do anything he wants. We are not losing hope.”

Currently, there are more than 33,000 ICE encounters and over 26,000 arrests in Florida alone. Lee County is leading the state in ICE detainments.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office declined a WGCU request for an interview or a statement regarding current ICE activity in Lee County.

To monitor the latest ICE encounters throughout the state, visit Florida’s Suspected Unauthorized Alien Encounters.

If you are an immigrant struggling in Southwest Florida, contact the Haitian-American Community Coalition of Southwest Florida.

About the translation: Dr. Jean Max Charles, a Florida Gulf Coast University Associate Professor, specializing in Ecology and Environmental Studies, as well as James Josue, an FGCU instructor specializing in English and Creative Writing, assisted with this story and translated the Haitian-Creole content into English.

Timeline for Haitian TPS

• A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck outside Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, taking the lives of about 220,000 people, injuring 300,000 more, and affecting more than 1.3 million.
  
• Under the Obama administration, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals who were in the U.S. was announced Jan. 15, 2010, lasting 18 months. It became effective Jan. 21. This original designation was extended in May 2011 through Jan. 22, 2013.
  
• While this occurred, the department also issued a redesignation, enabling eligible Haitian nationals who had been continuously residing in the United States since Jan. 12, 2011, to receive the TPS. This allowed individuals who came to the country after the earthquake to receive status in addition to those already residing in the country.
  
• TPS wasn’t a new concept at the time. It’s a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of specified countries enduring armed conflict, natural disasters, or any other circumstance that makes returning home unsafe or difficult.
  
• President George H. W. Bush signed the U.S. Immigration Act of 1990, effectively activating TPS in 1991 after being created by Congress. Since then, virtually all administrations have used it.
  
• Typically, TPS designations last in six, 12, or 18 month intervals. At least 60 days before a designation’s termination, the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must decide whether to extend the status based on a country’s conditions.
  
• Then-Secretary Jeh Johnson extended Haiti's designation on several occasions from Jan. 22, 2013, through July 22, 2017, prior to Donald Trump taking office as the 45^th president Jan. 20, 2017.
  
• On May 24, 2017, about two months before Johnson’s set expiration for Haitian TPS, then Secretary John Kelly announced the extension of TPS from its set ending date, July 22, 2017, to Jan. 22, 2018, a six-month increase, and encouraged recipients to prepare to return to Haiti after its expiration.
  
• A letter from the Haitian Ambassador to acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke in October 2017 requested it to be extended another 18 months. On Nov. 20, 2017, DHS announced its decision to eliminate Haitian TPS with an 18-month transition period ending on July 22, 2019. The termination was challenged in litigation and court injunctions prevented it from taking effect, most notably Ramos v. Wolf.
  
• The Ninth Court of Appeals vacated the preliminary injunction in 2020, but due to the court not mandating the elimination of Haitian TPS, it remained in effect throughout the first Trump administration.
  
• Under the Biden Administration, then Secretary Mayorkas announced a new 18-month TPS designation for Haiti based on temporary conditions, stating, "Haiti is currently experiencing serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty, and lack of basic resources, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic."
  
• The department estimated 155,000 Haitians would fall under a new 2021 designation, not including individuals already covered by the separate designation from 2010.
  
• Haitian TPS was extended twice in February 2023 and August 2024 for 18 months each time. Haiti was also redesignated both times, allowing additional Haitians to apply.
  
• In February 2025, under the direction of President Trump, Secretary Kristi Noem announced a partial change to Mayorkas’s July 2024 decision by reducing its duration to 12 months.
  
• This change moved the scheduled expiration of the TPS designation from Feb. 3, 2026, to Aug. 3, 2025. Haitian advocacy groups sued in March to challenge the change.
  
• As of March 31, 2025, there were 330,735 nationals of Haiti with TPS according to USCIS.
  
• In June, Noem announced the termination of Haiti’s TPS altogether effective Sept. 2, 2025, stating that the “environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home,” and that it is "contrary to the national interest to permit [Haitians] to remain temporarily in the United States." The termination was formally published by the Federal Register July 1, 2025.
  
• But on the same day, District Court Judge Brian M. Cogan in New York issued an order that blocked Noem’s change and reinstated the original Feb. 3, 2026, expiration.
  
• Cogan entered final judgement July 15, 2025, and said the partial change, back in February, violated the Administrative Procedure Act and for that reason was unlawful.
  
• Miot v. Trump was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia July 30, 2025, by Haitian TPS holders, with plaintiffs filing a motion asking the court to stay or postpone the termination.
  
• On Nov. 28, 2025, Noem issues a new Haiti TPS expiration, Feb. 3, 2026. But a victory in court for Haitian TPS holders unfolded Feb. 2 when Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered staying the termination while the case proceeds.
  
• Reyes rejects the government’s request to stay her own order Feb. 23, keeping the stay in place.
  
• The D.C. Circuit Court declined to lift the lower court’s stay on March 6, keeping the termination blocked as litigation proceeds.
  
• The Supreme Court agrees to hear the case Mullin v. Doe and Trump v. Miot together March 16.
  
• The court is presented with oral arguments for both Mullin v. Doe and Trump v. Miot April 29. On June 25, the court votes 6-3 for Trump in Mullin v. Doe, the consolidation of both cases.
  
• USCIS announced that Haitian-related employment authorization is extended to July 24, 2026. The Supreme Court issued judgement July 27, 202, the date Haitian TPS was terminated. USCIS announced the termination on July 29, 2026.
  
• The court did not itself create a new date for the elimination of TPS. Instead, it eliminated the judicial obstacle preventing DHS from ending Haitian TPS while holding that challengers were not entitled to orders for the delay of TPS expirations during legal proceedings.

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