The Haitian community in Massachusetts is reeling from news that the Trump administration will allow temporary protected status for Haitians to expire in August. As a result, thousands of Haitians statewide will lose protection from deportation, and the ability to work legally.
Haitians comprise one of the largest immigrant communities in Greater Boston, many recently coming to the U.S. seeking humanitarian relief from ongoing chaos, gang violence and political upheaval in their home country.
“This is devastating,” said the Rev. Myrlande DesRosiers, pastor and director of the Everett Haitian Community Center, which helps Haitians in the community and at the state’s emergency assistance shelters.
”We have people who have been on TPS for many, many years who have not only spent their money to renew [their legal status],“ DesRosiers said, ”but also who have worked hard in this country, contribute to the economy and who have families.”
Some Haitians living in the United States have humanitarian parole, a status granted by the Biden administration at the border that allows people to remain here legally for two years. That option has since been rescinded. Even more Haitians have temporary protected status — now also rescinded.
Makenston Dieujuste described being very “frustrated” when he first heard the news yesterday about TPS status. He arrived in 2021 and has a wife and two daughters. One has TPS, and the other is a U.S. citizen.
“If in August they end TPS, we won’t know what to do, because our work permit will be expired. How we can survive, how we can pay our bills?” he said. “I have to work to take care of my family.”
In Haiti, Dieujuste was a psychologist who worked with youth. “The reason I came here was the insecurity, and because there were people who wanted to kill me due to my work,” he said.
Marie, 60, is a client of the Immigrant Family Services Institute, a Mattapan-based nonprofit helping new arrivals. She asked to only use her first name out of fear of deportation, through translation by Teddy Mombrun. Marie arrived in April 2024 with family, and applied for Temporary Protected Status in August. Her application hasn’t yet been approved, but she’s been fingerprinted, she said, which is part of the federal government’s background checking system.
“We were forced out of the country. There is organized crime — we can’t go back and live there,” she said, citing the case of Eliana Thélémaque, a young woman in Haiti whose baby was seized by a gang and burned alive. “We were expecting to be protected in this country, thats why we’re here — we’re seeking protection.”
The Immigrant Family Services Institute estimates there are approximately 20,000 Haitians with TPS in Massachusetts.
Haiti has gangs controlling about 85% of the capital, and sexual violence against children increased by 1,000% last year, according to the United Nations. Haiti was first designated for TPS in January after a major earthquake devastated the country.
“It’s cruel. It’s inhumane. It’s the worst of what we see in politics,” said Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, the first Haitian American elected to the council in 2021.
“When you can’t deliver for people when the price of eggs go up, you try to distract them by punching down on the most vulnerable, and that’s what we’re seeing here,” she said.
Louijeune said there’s a lot of fear in the immigrant community and the city has already been putting know-your-rights information out and connecting them to organizations that can provide legal assistance. Boston is the U.S. city with the second largest Haitian population per capita, according to World Population Review , and the City of Boston.
DesRosiers, in Everett, believes the impact will be signifiant in the transportation sectors and health sectors, since many Haitians who have TPS work at certified nurse assistants. “It will significantly impact the economy of this state,” she said.
