US judge temporarily blocks lifting of deportation protections for Haiti migrants

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end deportation protections for more than 350,000 Haitian immigrants, who are allowed to live and work in the US legally under Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

In a scathing 83-page ruling, Reyes denied the Trump administration's motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, granting the plaintiffs' request for the deportation protection to remain while the case makes its way through the courts. The plaintiffs in the case are five Haitian TPS holders.

"They are not, it emerges, 'killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies,'" Reyes wrote, quoting missives by Noem.

The Trump administration has pushed for the dismantling of most TPS programmes, raising the possibility of deportation for hundreds of thousands of migrants in the US from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, among others.

Meanwhile, the administration has also moved to end deportation protections for around 2,500, Somalis. Starting 17 March, they will lose their work authorisations and legal status, making them eligible for deportation.