The future of hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States remains uncertain, even though a federal judge’s injunction prevented their immigration status from lapsing.

On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate Haiti’s designation for Temporary Protected Status (T.P.S.)—an immigration program that allows migrants from countries facing war or natural disasters to stay in the U.S. for a limited time.

The termination, set to take effect Tuesday, would have left over without legal status overnight.

The Trump Administration has already announced plans to appeal, leaving many Haitians fearing the worst.

“We can’t give ourselves the luxury of living as if it is a normal time, because it’s not an extension…It’s just like a pause,” Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian immigrant and community leader in Springfield, Ohio, told TIME.

Springfield’s roughly 15,000 Haitian residents had dreaded Tuesday’s decision for weeks, as they prepared for a surge of federal immigration agents to coincide with the loss of their status. 

The city was previously in the spotlight during the 2024 presidential campaign, when President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance falsely claimed Haitians were eating cats and dogs.

According to Dorsainvil, who runs a nonprofit helping newly arrived immigrants integrate into Springfield, many Haitian families have kept their children home from school in recent days out of fear of separation. Some have left Ohio for other states or Canada, but most have stayed—having fled Haiti years ago, a country still mired in gang violence and natural disasters, they don’t want to move again.

“The feedback I get from them [Haitian immigrants] is that they feel like they are tired. They are tired of running away.
They’re tired of becoming a target,” he said. 

It’s unclear how long the reprieve for Dorsainvil’s community will last. 

On Monday evening, Judge Ana C. Reyes of the Federal District Court in Washington denied the administration’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) termination of T.P.S.

In her 83-page decision, Judge Reyes into DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. 

“Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured,” she wrote.

Judge Reyes argued the Trump Administration had not determined whether it was safe to return people to Haiti, noting Secretary of State Marco Rubio had publicly stated Haiti faces “immediate security challenges.”

Immediately after the ruling, the federal government that it would appeal the decision.

“Temporary means temporary and the final word will not be from an activist judge legislating from the bench,” DHS Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin on Monday night. 

DeWine, a Republican, said Friday the federal government’s decision to end TPS was “a mistake.”

“The situation in Haiti is as dire as I have ever seen it. The gangs are controlling a good part of the country, it’s extremely violent, the economy is in shambles, the government does not function, the police are virtually worthless, so this is a very dangerous place,” DeWine said. “If Temporary Protected Status goes away next week, thousands of Haitians who are working, and contributing members of the community will not be able to work.” 

The humanitarian crisis in Haiti continues to worsen, as armed gangs control of the capital Port-au-Prince while expanding their presence elsewhere, per the United Nations. The State Department has warned against traveling to Haiti “for any reason” since July 2025. Gang violence and repeated natural disasters have displaced 1.4 million people—about 12% of the population—from their homes.

Springfield has a population of around 60,000, roughly a quarter of whom are Haitian migrants. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump that he would launch “the largest deportation” in U.S. history, starting with Springfield, Ohio. The city has since received , and a neo-Nazi group has across the city.