The first Haiti TPS deportation flight under the Trump administration’s new policy landed at Cap-Haïtien Airport on Thursday, 20 August 2026, carrying 161 passengers removed from the United States.
The flight departed Alexandria, Louisiana, and marked the first removal operation to Haiti since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 300 000 Haitians living in the United States, as reported by ABC News.
The programme had shielded them from deportation for more than a decade.
TPS is a designation the US government applies to nationals of countries considered unsafe for return because of armed conflict, natural disaster or other extraordinary conditions.
Haitians were first granted the status in 2010, after an earthquake killed more than 200 000 people and destroyed much of Port-au-Prince.
What cleared the way for the Haiti TPS deportation flight?
The US Supreme Court ended TPS protection for more than 350 000 Haitians in a ruling delivered in June 2026, siding with the Trump administration in a challenge to its immigration policy.
That decision removed the last legal obstacle standing between the department and mass removals.
The termination took effect on Sunday, 26 July 2026. From that date, Haitians who had held the status lost their work authorisation and their protection from removal, leaving them subject to detention and deportation unless they held another valid immigration status.
Losing the status carried immediate practical consequences. Work permits issued under the programme became invalid, which in turn affected driving licences and state identification documents tied to lawful presence in several US states, and employers were required to stop employing holders whose authorisation had expired.
Ankle monitors for former Haiti TPS holders in Ohio
Hundreds of Haitians who had held the status in Ohio were summoned by the department for in-person check-ins, and some were fitted with ankle monitors.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began tracking Haitian recipients with the devices in early August 2026.
Electronic monitoring is used by the agency as an alternative to detention, allowing it to track people with active removal cases while they remain in the community.
Immigration removal proceedings are civil rather than criminal matters, and losing protected status does not amount to a criminal charge.
What happens next for Haiti TPS holders
Cap-Haïtien in the north has served as the main arrival point for flights from the United States since gang violence forced the closure of the main airport at Port-au-Prince.
Armed groups controlled much of the capital, and the state’s authority over it was heavily contested.
The termination applied to the whole cohort, not only to the 161 people who boarded the first flight, which left a far larger group exposed to removal.
People with a pending asylum claim or another form of relief may still contest removal before an immigration judge, a process that can run for months.
