NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined a coalition of 17 other state attorneys general in urging a federal appeals court to preserve Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitian immigrants.

In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, James and the coalition ask the court to reject the federal government’s effort to lift a lower court order that temporarily blocked the termination of TPS for Haitians. The appeal follows a ruling by U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes that halted the Trump administration’s attempt to end the program.

TPS allows immigrants from countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions to live and work legally in the United States for limited periods. Haiti first received the designation after the devastating 2010 earthquake, and it has been renewed multiple times since. Since Trump returned to the presidency in 2025, the Department of Homeland Security recently moved to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation.

James argued that ending TPS would destabilize families and harm state economies, including New York’s. Nearly one in four TPS holders nationwide is Haitian, and at least 56,000 Haitian TPS holders live in New York, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office. They contribute more than $140 million annually in state and local taxes and more than $800 million to the state’s economy, the release states.

“Every day, Haitian immigrants contribute immensely to New York, from working in our schools and hospitals to running successful small businesses,” James said in the statement. She added that stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of Haitians would “put families in danger and tear apart our communities.”

Newest filing backs order that spared TPS

The filing comes amid an escalating legal battle over the program. Earlier this month, Reyes blocked the termination just one day before TPS protections were set to expire for roughly 350,000 Haitians. The administration has since appealed that decision. During a recent hearing, Reyes also addressed threats she received following her ruling.

Haitian elected officials, advocacy groups and community organizations have mounted a nationwide push to extend TPS, warning that ending the designation would separate families and deepen Haiti’s humanitarian crisis.

The attorneys general argue that terminating TPS would not only strip work authorization from hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants but also reduce access to employer-sponsored health insurance and create public health risks. 

The case continues as the federal appeals court weighs whether to pause the district court’s order while litigation proceeds, a decision that could determine whether Haitian TPS holders remain protected in the months ahead.

The post appeared first on The Haitian Times.