Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is beginning to arrest hundreds of Haitian nationals in one state after giving those in possession of now-terminated temporary protected status (TPS) several weeks to turn themselves in without results.
All of the Trump administration terminations for TPS are now in force, including for Syrians, Ethiopians, Haitians, and Somalis. Federal authorities were giving TPS holders a few weeks in order to allow them ample time to do the right thing and turn themselves in preparatory to taking the next step to return home and possibly consider a more constitutional method of immigrating here. But unsurprisingly, the Haitian TPS holders have not been identifying themselves, so federal authorities are arresting some of them already.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin posted the following update on Friday:
NEW: I’m told by federal source that ICE has arrested roughly 300 Haitian nationals in the state of Ohio alone in recent days, as the agency is now considering transitioning into a find & arrest approach after giving Haitians several weeks to turn themselves in to ICE offices…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 21, 2026
Melugin added that ICE is likely to increase the number of arrests in the future as it makes ex-TPS holders more of a priority.
Related: Dem Congresswoman Visits ICE Facility, Breaks the Rules, Throws a Tantrum
The U.S. government originally granted TPS to Syrians all the way back in 2012, so clearly it long outlived its temporary justification. Even more absurdly, the U.S. government granted Haitians TPS in 2010 because of an earthquake (see Legal Information Institute). That earthquake has been a matter of the past for over 15 years. Somalis first received TPS all the way back in 1991, which is insane. The designation of TPS for Ethiopians was more recent, starting in 2022, but DHS determined that the set of economically and politically unstable circumstances that existed four years ago is no longer the same, and therefore that protection was no longer justifiable.
One of the arguments Democrats frequently make in favor of TPS is that it allegedly provides a vital number of healthcare workers. For instance, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey proudly states that she has 45,000 Haitians in her state alone, and tried to create a tragic narrative claiming that the healthcare and home care industry in the sanctuary state depends upon these Haitians.
Now, NPR claimed that 15% of noncitizen healthcare workers in America are TPS holders, but 18% of healthcare workers in America are immigrants, which includes legal immigrants as well as illegal aliens and TPS holders. In Massachusetts, the percentage is slightly lower, at 17% of healthcare workers being immigrants. So the overwhelming majority of healthcare workers in the United States are Americans. The only reason the percentage is not higher is that many employers deliberately look to hire immigrants to whom they can give lower wages and worse working conditions.
And as for the specific percentage of Haitians, they make up less than one percent — specifically, 0.6% — of healthcare workers, per Massachusetts Daily News. So Healy’s claim that the healthcare industry in Massachusetts or anywhere else will collapse because Haitians no longer have TPS is utterly bogus. But you know what is true? Some 65% of noncitizen Haitians in the United States are on welfare, according to Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas). These people are not fueling our economy; they are draining our taxpayer-funded resources.
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