Pastor Lander Saintelus doesn鈥檛 have to imagine what the end of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians will look like. He has watched the effects unfold inside his own community in New Bedford for months. And they have only intensified.
When Homeland Security announced more than a year ago that Haiti鈥檚 TPS would be terminated, Saintelus witnessed the fallout at the Bright Morning Star International Ministries, the Pentecostal church he leads.
By February, nearly his entire 100-member congregation was jobless. By March, he was helping families pay utility bills to keep the lights and heat on. Soon, he started answering calls from members too afraid to leave home to come to church because they feared immigration agents were waiting outside.
Then, on June 21, just after Sunday service, Saintelus says, he stepped outside his church on Page Street and saw three unfamiliar black vehicles parked at the curb. He said the people inside were wearing vests with 鈥淚CE鈥� across the chest. Panic rippled through the congregation.
鈥淚 had to keep (everyone) inside the church until they were gone,鈥� he said. Twenty minutes later, the vehicles left, and the pastor and his wife began to drive the congregants home. 鈥淲e were in shock,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the situation that we are living in right now in America.鈥�
That encounter made the threat real, Saintelus said. Four days later, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with its plan to end TPS for Haitians and Syrians, potentially exposing hundreds of thousands of people from those countries to deportation.
Estimates of the number of Haitian TPS holders in Massachusetts range from 22,000 in a recent UMass Boston report to 45,000, according to the offices of the governor and attorney general.
The decision opens the door to ending protections for TPS holders from about a dozen other countries.
In New Bedford, that includes Hondurans, whose TPS status ended last year. The court decision leaves them little hope of reviving their lost status. It also includes Salvadorans, whose TPS status expires in September.
What Temporary Protected Status means
TPS was one of several major immigration programs established by the , a law sponsored by then-Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The move came after the to people fleeing El Salvador鈥檚 .
鈥�(It鈥檚) a form of immigration status that provides work authorization and protection from deportation for a specified period of time,鈥� said Alexander Holtzman, director of the Deportation Defense Clinic at Hofstra University Law School. 鈥淐ongress has used temporary protected status to protect individuals from countries that are not safe to return to.鈥�
Issued at the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security, the status covers people from nations experiencing instability stemming from natural disasters 鈥� like the 2010 Haiti earthquake 鈥� to conflict and more. The status can be granted to people from the designated nationalities for periods of six to 18 months.
But, Holtzman said, the word 鈥渢emporary鈥� is more nuanced than it first appears, saying that sometimes a calamity begets more calamity, meaning that extensions can become regular and the status starts to feel permanent.
鈥淎 reason that might justify granting TPS can change over time if additional conditions prolong the suffering of a populace and make it dangerous to return,鈥� he said. Even so, because the status is temporary, it does not lead to legal permanent residency or citizenship on its own.
The Supreme Court鈥檚 gives the administration broad power to end TPS protections.
鈥淭he majority (of justices) at least decided that that鈥檚 not something that courts can weigh in on,鈥� Holtzman said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 purely within the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security.鈥�
Hondurans: 鈥楬ow can I go back and start again?鈥�
Redin Almendarez and his wife moved to New York City shortly after Hurricane Mitch made landfall in Honduras in October 1998, devastating their native land. Less than three months later, the Hondurans eligible for TPS protections. By March 2025, more than 51,000 Hondurans lived in the U.S. with the protections.
Some of those are among residents in New Bedford, including the Almendarezes, who moved to the city in 2001.
鈥淚鈥檝e had it all this time,鈥� Almendarez told The Light in Spanish. 鈥淚鈥檇 been an authorized immigrant.鈥�
In the quarter-century since, Almendarez said he raised his annual income to around $250,000. He鈥檚 raised three daughters, two of whom are still at home, aged 16 and 10, both U.S. citizens. Eleven years ago, he bought a two-story home near Buttonwood Park. Three years ago, he provided backing for his eldest daughter 鈥� a legal permanent resident 鈥� to establish a Honduran restaurant on Acushnet Avenue.
But he may soon leave that all behind. The administration . This July 14, a federal appeals court, citing the new Supreme Court decision, a lower court order that had stayed the termination. Almendarez effectively has been .
鈥淚鈥檓 not really prepared to leave the country,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 really have a life in our country like we have in the U.S.
鈥淚鈥檝e been here for 30 years and have not returned to Honduras in that time,鈥� the 51-year old continued. 鈥淗ow can I go back and start again?鈥�
Salvadorans: 鈥楾hey don鈥檛 know where they鈥檙e going to end up鈥�
Salvadorans were the first to receive TPS, in 1991, as they fled El Salvador鈥檚 civil war. According to a , 7,354 Salvadoran TPS holders live in Massachusetts.
Doris Landaverde, an Everett resident and coordinator for the Massachusetts TPS Committee, is one of them. She grew up in El Salvador during the civil war and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s. In for Salvadorans on the heels of two devastating earthquakes. Barring an extension, their protections are set to .
The Supreme Court 鈥渓eft us with minimal space to use the courts to protect families,鈥� Landaverde said in Spanish. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it is important for the community to understand that the impact of this case on Haiti and Syria doesn鈥檛 affect them alone.鈥�
The of New Bedford鈥檚 Salvadoran population puts them at 1,900 people, though the number who have TPS is unknown. Lilly Rodriguez, a New Bedford community advocate and Salvadoran immigrant, said members of the community are 鈥渟cared鈥� as they await the Trump administration鈥檚 decision on whether to extend their TPS.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e people that have had TPS for the last 20 years, and they don鈥檛 know where they鈥檙e going to end up,鈥� she said.
Rodriguez said confusion around TPS policies has led to people losing their jobs with local companies, even though they have TPS protections. She recalled helping three Salvadoran men in March after a local manufacturer fired them under the erroneous belief that they no longer had permission to work in the U.S.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen people (return) back to El Salvador because they don鈥檛 want to live with the uncertainty,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are definitely a lot of good people out there who need to continue being here.鈥�
If Salvadorans with TPS leave New Bedford, she says, it鈥檒l hurt the local economy.
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 want to work in fish houses. People don鈥檛 want to work in the factories,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can tell you who works there.鈥�
Haitians: 鈥楾here is no peace there鈥�
On July 12, about 150 people arrived at the opening of Saintelus鈥� new church on Purchase Street in New Bedford, dressed in sparkling gowns and matching suits. The invitation had circulated only by text message and word of mouth among trusted people. It was too risky to announce it publicly, Saintelus said.
He plans to turn part of the unfinished basement into a small apartment with a bed and kitchenette in case someone needs a place to stay.
鈥淚t is 2026,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it feels like 1933.鈥�
Saintelus said some families in the congregation are talking about leaving for Chile or Brazil out of fear that deportation could separate them from their children 鈥� about 30 are U.S. born and therefore American citizens.
On one point everyone agrees: Returning to Haiti is not an option.
鈥淲e would all love one day to go back and live there forever,鈥� Saintelus said. 鈥淏ut at the moment, there is no peace there.鈥�
Since the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti has been engulfed by violence and a humanitarian crisis, with Haitians facing gang attacks, gender-based violence, exploitation and trafficking.
The U.S. Department of State has placed Haiti under 鈥� its highest alert level, reserved for life-threatening risks 鈥� urging Americans, 鈥淒o Not Travel.鈥�
Though going back is dangerous, staying in the United States is becoming unsustainable. About 95% of the members of Saintelus鈥� church 鈥� most of them TPS holders 鈥� have lost their jobs, he estimated. Haitian work permits remain
Although TPS is (while a lower court works through the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling), many Haitians are seeing their expired work authorizations not being renewed, said Carline Desire, executive director of the Association of Haitian Women in Boston.
鈥淭hey want to end it, so renewing the expired ones isn鈥檛 necessarily their priority,鈥� Desire said.
Without work, families鈥� bills piled up. Saintelus said one family was evicted, while another cooks at a neighbor鈥檚 house after losing gas service.
鈥淭hey are trying very hard to survive,鈥� Saintelus said.
He believes the economic effect will soon spread as more TPS holders lose the ability to work in healthcare, construction and other industries.
According to a 2023 analysis by the , more than 164,000 Haitian TPS holders paid almost $984 million in taxes.
鈥淭hey bring life to the community,鈥� Saintelus said. 鈥淲ithout them, it鈥檚 going to be rough and tough for the American community, the American people.鈥�
What鈥檚 next
Desire described the past year as a legal roller coaster.
鈥淲e had a lot of momentum, a lot of joy, a lot of happiness right before the Supreme Court鈥檚 June 25 decision,鈥� she said. Desire helped advocate for bipartisan legislation to extend Temporary Protected Status for Haitians through April 2029. It passed the House in April after advancing through a discharge led by Rep. .
The U.S. Senate referred a similar bill, S. 4814, to the Judiciary Committee on June 17.
鈥淲e already have 22 senators,鈥� Desire said. 鈥淲e need 60 senators for the bill to pass, and we know the president will veto it.鈥� If so, it鈥檒l take 67 senators to override his veto.
Whatever comes next, those affected are preparing themselves.
鈥淚鈥檓 not afraid,鈥� said Landaverde, the Salvadoran TPS holder and advocate. 鈥淚 grew up in a country where there were bombs exploding down the street from my house.
鈥淚鈥檝e lived with a lot of fear in my life and it鈥檚 time to heal from that,鈥� she continued. 鈥淣ow is the time for action.鈥� ___
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