Hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants in the United States, including those who crossed the border into Del Rio, Texas, in 2021, have been forced to self-deport within days, according to Trump administration officials.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Supreme Court victory on June 25 allowed the Trump administration not to extend temporary protected status for people from Haiti and Syria for another 18 months. Roughly 335,000 of the more than 1 million TPS recipients now must quickly leave the country or risk being arrested by federal immigration officers.
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However, given President Donald Trump’s focus on carrying out the largest-ever deportation effort in history, that decision has also potentially opened the door for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to go after those who do not leave the country by Wednesday, July 1, when TPS expires for both countries. TPS recipients receive documents to work and protection from ICE on the basis that the home country is not stable enough to accept its citizens back.
With well over 10 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., there is no shortage of individuals ICE could focus on arresting, but given Trump’s love for pomp and circumstance, sending in ICE to regions of the country with large Haitian or Syrian populations may appeal to the White House, especially given Trump’s long-standing focus on Haitians.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned as much on Monday.
“You have to leave. We’re going to assist you in doing so, and if you choose not to, then we’ll pick you up and force you to leave,” Mullin told Fox News.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Syrian and Haitian TPS recipients: "You have to leave. We're going to assist you in doing so, and if you choose not to, then we'll pick you up and force you to leave." pic.twitter.com/eRymZGBe7w
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 29, 2026
“Should DHS choose to focus on removing those illegally here under that Biden policy, then we could soon see operations to remove those who are not lawfully here,” said a senior Trump administration official, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity, in a message to the Washington Examiner on Monday afternoon.
TPS takes effect
Congress created TPS in 1990 to aid countries that had been seriously harmed from having to accept back repatriated citizens from the U.S. Countries can request TPS from the U.S. at any time on the basis that recent events — such as war, famine, or natural disaster — make it unable to receive deported citizens.
The DHS secretary would decide whether TPS status for each nation would continue when it expired, every six to 18 months, according to the law establishing TPS.
Haiti first received TPS in 2010 following a catastrophic earthquake. Syria received TPS in 2012. More trouble hit Haiti in 2021 with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced last year that she would not continue TPS for Haiti and Syria on the basis that both countries were stable enough to take back repatriated citizens from the U.S.
The 2021 surge of Haitians into US
Between February 2021 and September 2024, more than 470,000 Haitian immigrants were encountered at the U.S. border, but only 80,000 of them came over illegally. The remaining 390,000 immigrants were intercepted at ports of entry, which included those who applied from abroad to be paroled into the country through a Biden administration program.
In an incident that gained national attention for weeks, roughly 16,000 Haitian immigrants illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico in Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021. The incident prompted a major response from Border Patrol, as well as state and local police.
As of March 2025, 330,735 Haitians and 3,860 Syrians had been granted TPS, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that decides applications.
When the Biden administration redesignated Haiti as a TPS recipient in 2023, illegal immigrants who came over the border through Del Rio and were released into the U.S. were allowed to apply for TPS. The only criteria were having been continually present in the U.S. since Nov. 6, 2022, and having no criminal history in the U.S., according to Mateo Forero, investigations director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a think tank in Washington that advocates reduced immigration levels.
“Haitians who crossed the border illegally during the 2021 Del Rio incident were eligible for TPS under the Biden administration’s redesignations and extensions. Unlawful entry itself is not a bar to eligibility (the statute focuses on continuous physical presence and residence requirements, not manner of entry),” Forero wrote in a statement Monday. “Many connected to that surge were able to secure TPS through open registration periods and related policies. This turned the program into a powerful magnet for mass illegal crossings (rather than strictly limiting it to those facing crises abroad).”
Days, even hours, to leave US
One city with a large Haitian population is Springfield, Ohio, which was reported to have nearly 10,000 Haitian immigrants. The city welcomed Haitian immigrants during the Biden administration and has been revitalized economically. Trump drew attention to the city during the 2024 presidential election when he claimed that Haitian immigrants there were catching and eating household pets and neighborhood animals.
Former Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich warned in a post to X following the Supreme Court decision that removing potentially thousands of Haitians in Springfield would hurt the community.
“The Supreme Court has allowed TPS for Haitians to end, putting families in Springfield and communities across the country at risk of being sent back to a country in chaos,” Kasich said. “Congress can and should extend these protections.”
Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an immigrant advocacy organization, said in an interview that immigrants are expected to begin making plans to leave the U.S. very quickly or risk “being taken by ICE.” HBA did not respond to a request for comment.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper pushed Mullin in an interview on Sunday over whether it was a double standard for the State Department to warn U.S. citizens against traveling to Haiti for safety reasons, while ending TPS and requiring Haitian immigrants to return home.
“We have several options for deporting individuals, because we have deportation flights, where we can get into areas where maybe commercial travel can’t go to,” Mullin told Tapper.
“We expect to have pretty full flights going back to Haiti and going back to some of these countries where TPS has been eliminated. … We will provide the travel for them,” Mullin said. “And, like I said, we will give them $2,100 roughly to go back home.”
White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller has maintained since the Supreme Court ruling that hundreds of thousands of Haitians who entered the U.S. under Trump’s predecessor were illegitimate asylum-seekers.
“In every case, they’re either criminals, benefit seekers, economic migrants, welfare seekers, etc., etc.,” Miller told reporters.
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Asked whether the administration considers Haiti a safe country, Miller replied, “For Haitians? Absolutely.”
“Haitians live in Haiti. It’s not our position that Haitians should leave Haiti,” he said. “I mean, it would be crazy for us to say that Haitians couldn’t live in Haiti. It’s their country.”
