ICE plans to ramp up arrests and deportations of Haitian migrants as Temporary Protected Status for Haitians ends on Monday, internal agency documents show, and federal sources told Fox News the expanded operation is expected to begin as soon as this week and will heavily target Springfield, Ohio.
More than 300,000 Haitian immigrants in the U.S. are set to lose their ability to legally live and work, and an estimated 13,000 are nursing assistants who care for 65,000 patients every day.
"I get up at 5am every morning and I take two buses to work to clean the rooms of the residents. I give my heart," said a nursing home housekeeper with TPS from Haiti who requested anonymity.
Farah Larrieux, who has lived in South Florida since 2005 and has been a TPS holder since 2010, said she has built a life there as a news personality, public relations and communications professional and advocate for the Haitian community. "I feel like I'm living a nightmare. It's unjust because I have dreams," she said, adding she is talking with an attorney to try to get asylum but that, like hundreds of thousands of others, "all I can do is wait."
The expirations will also affect thousands of Syrians whose protections are set to end under the latest court-ordered deadline.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in favor of the administration's efforts to terminate TPS for Haitians and Syrians, and the court's binding mandate is set to be issued to lower courts on Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security has said Haiti is now safe to return to, while the United Nations and the U.S. State Department warn of frequent gang violence and kidnapping; the State Department has issued a non-travel advisory for Haiti because of a national state of emergency, and significant portions of the country are controlled by criminal gangs. The U.S. has generally limited deportations to Cap-Haïtien due to instability in Port-au-Prince.
The Department of Homeland Security said it "does not discuss ongoing or future operations," called TPS a "defacto amnesty program" and added, "it's closing time which means you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here," and that "the good news is it's not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home."
DHS General Counsel James Percival wrote on X, "The Court vindicates DHS yet again. The T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY, yet many of these designations became de facto amnesty. This is a win for the rule of law and common sense," and White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called the ruling "a tremendous win" and said, "Today, the Supreme Court affirmed what President Trump has always maintained: temporary protected status is, by definition, temporary. It was never intended to be a pathway to permanent status or legal residency."
Roxana Rivera, assistant to the president at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ, said, "The impact is not just for the TPS recipients, but our whole communities," and added, "We do think this is a racist act from the administration targeting immigrants."
ICE operations have ramped up this summer amid pressure for the agency to record 2,000 daily arrests; last month the number of detainees booked into ICE custody hit a monthly record high, and during recent operations two immigrants were killed by agents during traffic stops. A previous large deployment was scaled back after two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by federal agents.
"The loss of TPS and my work authorization has turned my family's life upside down," said a Haitian immigrant who asked to remain anonymous, adding that he is married and the father of two daughters born in the United States and that losing TPS has upended his ability to support his family.