Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Miot, et al. v. Trump in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, opposing the Trump administration’s effort to overturn a lower court’s decision to postpone the termination of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation while litigation on the termination continues. 

“Ending the vital protections provided by TPS would risk the health and safety of Haitian immigrants who have contributed greatly to our state and national economies,” Raoul said. “I join my colleagues in asking the court to extend these protections.”

TPS is a humanitarian immigration status created by Congress to protect foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their home country because of war, natural disaster or other extraordinary conditions. TPS allows recipients to live and work in the U.S. as long as their home country has a TPS designation. Haitian immigrants have been eligible for TPS since 2010, when a devastating earthquake hit the country. The protections have continuously been extended due to unsafe conditions in Haiti, including widespread violence, homelessness and starvation.  

On Nov. 28, 2025, the Trump administration provided notice that it would end Haiti’s TPS as of Feb. 3, 2026, without any evidence that the dangerous conditions in Haiti had improved and despite the fact that the U.S. State Department continues to classify Haiti as a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” country – its highest risk designation. On Feb. 2, 2026, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stayed the Trump administration’s decision to end Haiti’s TPS, which was set to expire the next day. This order preserved TPS for Haitians while the litigation over the lawfulness of the termination continued. On Feb. 6, 2026, the federal government appealed this order and moved for a stay, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to let them move forward with the termination despite the district court’s ruling. 

In their brief, Raoul and the coalition urge the court to deny the federal government’s motion for a stay, arguing that terminating Haiti’s TPS would separate families, damage economies, deplete workforces, increase health care costs and harm public health and safety. Across states, thousands of TPS recipients provide important public services as health care providers, teachers, entrepreneurs, construction workers and more. Stripping these individuals of their legal status would force them either to face life in uncertainty and vulnerability without legal protections or to return to a country experiencing exceedingly dangerous conditions. 

TPS-eligible Haitians contribute $3.4 billion annually to the U.S. economy. Approximately 69% of Haitian immigrants aged 16 and older were members of the civilian labor force in 2022, with high rates of participation in health care support and service industries. Furthermore, a recent estimate found that 75,000 TPS-eligible Haitians work in labor-short industries.  

In submitting their brief, Raoul and the coalition are asking the court to deny the federal government’s motion for a stay and protect the hundreds of thousands of Haitians legally in the U.S. under the program while the litigation proceeds.  

Joining Raoul in submitting this brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.