PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Sept 4, CMC – The Bishop of the Diocese of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne, Pierre-André Dumas, is calling on President Donald Trump to reconsider the decision of the United States to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian migrants.
Deportation flights to Haiti had been occurring on average once a month, but the Trump administration has ramped up its programme following the US Supreme Court’s decision authorising the government to end Haiti’s TPS.
More than 300,000 Haitians were enrolled in this humanitarian programme, which allowed them to live and work legally in the United States due to the situation in their country. Haitian immigrant rights organizations and other stakeholders argue that Haiti remains far too dangerous for mass returns, while the DHS maintains that the situation has improved sufficiently to allow Haitians to return.
Of Haiti’s nearly 12 million inhabitants, more than half are in need of humanitarian assistance due to escalating gang violence and worsening poverty. Furthermore, nearly 1.5 million people have been displaced by gangs, as many as during the 2010 earthquake, which prompted the Obama administration to grant the TPS.
In a statement Bishop Pierre-André Dumas said that “Haiti is not a safe country” and that the “Church is asking the American government to reconsider its decision.
“The question is : Is Haiti truly a country today where someone can be safely deported. The reality provides us with a dramatic answer,” said Bishop Pierre-André Dumas, who is also the ice-President of Haiti’s Episcopal Conference.
He told the Vatican News that this was precisely why he could not remain silent and sent a sent a letter to President Trump.
“Mr. President,…we respectfully ask you to reconsider the situation of Haitians affected by the suspension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and to use all available legal and humanitarian means to prevent forced repatriations as long as Haiti remains in such a gravely unstable and dangerous situation.
“Haitian TPS beneficiaries work, pay their taxes, raise their children, are involved in their churches and communities, and contribute daily to American society. Many of them are parents of children born in the United States and are American citizens. We are not asking the United States to abandon its own laws. We are not asking the United States to abandon the security of its borders. We are asking the United States to apply its own laws humanely when human lives are at stake,” the Roman Catholic Bishop wrote.
Last month, Pope Leo XIV appealed for the release of hostages who had been taken by an armed gang in Haiti “without delay”. The August 23-24 massacre which preceded the kidnappings killed 47 people and wounded 22.
Among the victims in Kenscoff, on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince, were a number of children. People who sought refuge in a church were also killed.
Following his recitation of the Angelus last Sunday, Pope Leo noted the “tragic reports” of the “horrific massacres” that had been carried out near the capital.
Criminal gangs have sought to topple the Haitian government ever since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021. His wife, Martine Moïse, was shot and seriously hurt, but she survived
Last month, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known by its French acronym, BINUH, said at least 1,408 people were killed and 656 injured from April through June this year. It said this was about 14 per cent fewer casualties than during the first three months of the year, a modest decline masking starkly different realities across the country. By May, nearly 1.47 million people were internally displaced across Haiti, more than half of them children
CMC/fk/ir/2026