A federal appeals court in Washington DC, by a 2-1 vote, rejected on Friday, March 6, 2026, the Trump administration’s request to allow deportations to resume while a legal challenge against the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 350,000 Haitian nationals is under review.
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., voted 2-1 on Friday, March 6, 2026, to reject the Trump administration’s request to allow deportations to resume while a legal challenge against the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 350,000 Haitian nationals is pending.
The appeals court also agreed with the lower court that the termination of TPS would have devastating consequences for the plaintiffs, including: • the risk of detention and deportation, separation from their families, and the loss of their work permits.
The court further stated that, if deported to Haiti, the plaintiffs would be vulnerable to violence in a context of “rule of law collapse” and lack of access to essential medical care.
The appeals court also noted that the Trump administration had attempted to move up the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to August 2025, while the Biden administration had extended it until February 3, 2026, and that it had not challenged a court ruling requiring it to maintain the original date.
“The problem remains: the government has not explained why its failure to end TPS for Haiti on its desired date was tolerable for several months but now constitutes ‘certain,’ ‘serious,’ and ‘imminent’ harm,” the appeals court stated.
The appeals court’s decision means that Haitians benefiting from TPS can continue to work and remain protected from deportation, unless the government obtains a stay of this decision from the Supreme Court or the case is heard on its merits by a federal court and the Haitian plaintiffs lose their appeal—which could take several months.
The administration filed an emergency appeal on Thursday, February 26, 2026, with the highest court in the United States, asking the justices not only to allow it to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syrians, but also to rule on broader questions regarding the president’s power to make similar decisions in other cases.
“The Supreme Court is giving TPS advocates until March 5 to respond. The Court will then make a decision. We don’t know what the Supreme Court will decide. If the Court says in its TPS ruling that lower courts cannot review the decision, that will apply to all TPS beneficiaries. One day at a time, don’t panic. We’re in pretty dangerous territory,” said attorney Frandeley Denis Julien in a video.
As part of a broader effort to curb immigration, Donald Trump has sought to end this status for several groups. The Supreme Court has already granted the administration broad powers to overturn these designations, notably in a case concerning Venezuelans benefiting from Temporary Protected Status (TPS), decided in May. It reaffirmed this position in a second emergency ruling issued in October, according to a CNN report.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer, who argues that the courts lack the authority to review TPS decisions, urged the Supreme Court to hear the case on its merits, warning that otherwise lower courts “will continue to obstruct the end of temporary protections that the Secretary deems contrary to the national interest, by tying those decisions to endless litigation,” CNN reported.
“This request marks the third time the government has been forced to seek a stay from this Court after lower courts have, without merit, blocked the Secretary of Homeland Security’s TPS decisions just before they were to take effect,” the administration stated in its appeal on Thursday.
The press reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not yet commented on the Washington Court of Appeals’ decision. The DHS underwent a leadership change this week. Christi Noem was dismissed by President Trump, who replaced her with Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, a staunch ally of the president.
The future of the 350,000 Haitian nationals in the United States hinges on the decision of the nine-member Supreme Court, six of whom are conservatives, some of whom belong to President Trump’s own political party.
Roberson Alphonse, with Miami Herald and CNN