Miami, Florida - Leaders of the Haitian community in Miami on Monday slammed a Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to strip people from that country of a special status protecting them from deportation.

Last week, the high court said the Trump administration could end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and some 6,000 Syrians without judicial review, although the impact of the decision could apply to migrants from many other backgrounds.

An estimated 350,000 Haitians live in the US.

"Today is a painful moment for the Haitian community," Vanessa Joseph, president of the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network,  said at a press conference in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami.

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TPS provides protection from deportation for people from countries designated as unsafe because of war, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances.

Since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in 2025, his administration has revoked TPS for immigrants from more than a dozen countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Somalia.

In Miami-Dade County, home to large numbers of immigrants, including some 110,000 Haitians, the high court's decision has plunged many into uncertainty.

"We are hearing from families who are frightened and desperate for answers," said Thamara Labrousse, executive director of Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center.

"They are asking: will I lose my job? Is it safe for my children to go back to school? Will I be separated from my children?"

Jean Monestime, a Haitian-American candidate for Congress, said the government should have to show that the situation in Haiti has demonstrably improved in order to justify ending TPS.

With conditions in Haiti so bad, "for the government to make these decisions against people, it's wrong. It's plainly wrong," Monestime told AFP.