A federal judge has stopped the Trump administration from ending temporary protected status (TPS) for up to 350,000 Haitians. This status lets them live and work legally in the United States while their home country faces ongoing turmoil. Judge Ana Reyes issued a temporary stay to prevent US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from enforcing her decision to revoke Haiti TPS. The termination was scheduled to take effect on Tuesday. Reyes noted that Noem, when announcing the decision, called Haitians seeking refuge “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.” The judge clarified that the plaintiffs challenging the order did not fit that description. “They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer’s disease; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse,” the judge wrote. In an 83-page opinion, Reyes said the plaintiffs are likely to win the case. She also found it “substantially likely” that Noem decided to end TPS due to “hostility to nonwhite immigrants.” The judge’s two-page order stated: “During the stay, the Termination shall be null, void, and of no legal effect.” This means the termination currently does not affect their right to work or protection from detention and deportation. Temporary Protected Status allows the homeland security secretary to grant legal stay to people from countries unsafe for return. This could be due to natural disasters, political instability, or other dangers. TPS lets people live and work in the US but does not offer a path to citizenship. The Trump administration has aggressively moved to end TPS protections, which increases the number of people eligible for deportation. This is part of a wider mass deportation effort. Along with Haitians, Noem has ended TPS for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans, 60,000 people from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, over 160,000 Ukrainians, and thousands from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Many of these groups have pending lawsuits in federal court. Haiti’s TPS was first granted in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and has been renewed multiple times. The country continues to suffer from gang violence, leaving hundreds of thousands displaced. The Department of Homeland Security claimed conditions in Haiti have improved. However, lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that the situation remains dangerous. “If the termination stands, people will almost certainly die,” attorneys for Haitian TPS holders said in a court filing. “Some will likely be killed, others will likely die from disease, and yet others will likely starve to death.” The ruling provides temporary relief for thousands of Haitian families, allowing them to continue living and working safely in the US while their legal challenge continues.