FLASHBACK: 2024’s immigration ground zero in spotlight again as judge's 11th hour ruling sparks outrage
Roughly 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio, were on the verge of being deported Tuesday as their Temporary Protective Status (TPS) was set to expire. A federal judge has now...
By Fox News · Fox News
Roughly 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio , were on the verge of being deported Tuesday as their Temporary Protective Status (TPS) was set to expire. A federal judge has now temporarily blocked the expiration, setting up a legal showdown with the Trump administration and thrusting the small city — which became the epicenter of the immigration debate during the Biden administration — once again into the national spotlight. The Department of Homeland Security officially terminated Haiti’s TPS designation earlier this year, meaning protections extended and expanded by the Biden administration in 2024 allowing hundreds of thousands of Haitians to live and work legally in the U.S. was set to end at 11:59 p.m. Feb. 3 unless they secure another lawful status. On Monday night, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes in Washington, D.C., blocked the Trump administration and granted an emergency request Monday to pause the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging the decision goes ahead. In an 83-page order, Reyes said the termination would be "null, void, and of no legal effect" during the stay, preserving recipients’ ability to work and shielding them from arrest and removal. NEW WATCHDOG DATABASE NAMES HUNDREDS OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS LIMITING ICE COOPERATION AS TOOL FOR PARENTS The judge’s order sparked an immediate backlash from the Trump administration. "Supreme Court, here we come," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X . "This is lawless activism that we will be vindicated on." "Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago, it was never intended to be a de facto amnesty program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades." McLaughlin went on to say that "temporary means temporary" and "the final word will not be from an activist judge legislating from the bench." Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, posted on X , "An unele…