Donald Trump has not only vilified Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, falsely claiming they were stealing and eating pets, but now he’s also threatening to kick them out of the country.
In an interview with NewsNation on Wednesday, Trump said he would end revoke the immigrants’ Temporary Protected Status, which legally allows them to temporarily live and work in the United States while their home country remains torn apart by conflict.
“Absolutely, I’d revoke it,” he said.
“It has nothing to do with Haiti or anything else,” he added. “You have to remove the people, and you have to bring them back to their own country.”
During his first term as president, Trump removed Haiti from TPS, despite that an earthquake had devastated the country in 2010. And behind closed doors, he asked lawmakers why the U.S. would admit more immigrants from Haiti and “shithole countries” in Africa instead of from nations like Norway.
And then, of course, there’s the Sept. 10 presidential debate, during which he repeated a racist hoax about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, saying, “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets.”
It’s a lie that he and his campaign continued to push even after being told it was baseless. Then again, a lack of facts has never stopped them from trying to hitch every issue to immigration, from housing shortages to crime and gun violence.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden gave TPS back to Haitians due to government instability and gang violence.
Introduced by Congress through the Immigration Act of 1990, TPS was signed into law by Republican President George H.W. Bush. The act allows not only immigrants fleeing conflict-torn countries to stay and work legally in the U.S. but also those fleeing environmental disaster and other extraordinary and temporary circumstances. The designation is granted for up to 18 months at a time, then the secretary of Homeland Security determines if TPS should continue depending on the conditions in the country.
Creations Market shop owner Philomene Philostin, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Haitian origin, shelves merchandise in her store that caters mainly to Haitian residents in Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 13, 2024.
As of March 2024, around 863,880 residents with TPS lived in the U.S., with about an additional 486,000 initial or renewal applications pending. Data also shows that immigrants from Venezuela, El Salvador, and Haiti are the top three beneficiaries of TPS. The three largest populations of TPS residents are in Florida, Texas, and New York.
According to a 2017 report from the Center for Migration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank that studies immigration, the industries that employ the greatest number of TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti were construction, restaurants and food services, landscaping, day-care services, and grocery stores.
Experts on immigration reform, like those with the Center for Migration Studies, have argued that extending TPS is vital until the immigrants can “safely return home and can successfully reintegrate into their home communities.” They also advocate that most long-term TPS recipients should be afforded a path to permanent U.S. citizenship.
With immigration being one of the top issues for voters in the 2024 election, it’s evident that Trump’s cruel rhetoric isn’t an empty threat. It’s a preview of what his second term would involve.
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