A growing number of Haitians are making plans to leave the United States after President Donald Trump ended their Temporary Protected Status, with some seeking refuge in Canada. More than 330,000 Haitians lived in the U.S. under TPS protections that ended Aug. 5 following a U.S. Supreme Court battle.

Trump administration officials are now urging them to leave. Some are heading north to Canada, particularly the French-speaking province of Quebec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and migrant rights advocates told USA TODAY. French is one of Haiti’s official languages, though Haitian Creole is far more prevalent in the former French colony.

Legal barriers and ‘dire’ consequences at the border

Haitians who try sneaking into Canada face “dire” consequences, said Jenn McIntyre of the nonprofit Canada-U.S. Border Rights Clinic, which advises migrants seeking to cross. Under a March 2023 U.S.-Canada agreement, most migrants caught illegally crossing the border into Canada are immediately taken into custody by U.S. federal immigration authorities and can face deportation. Those who evade immediate capture may later qualify for refugee status in Canada.

“The stakes are so high at the border and a lot of people are not very well informed,” McIntyre said. “The consequences are profound.”

Advocates urge Canada to withdraw from agreement

Montreal refugee advocates say they are hearing from a growing number of Haitians in the United States who are considering coming to Canada. “They’re real stressed. They don’t go out. They stay in their apartment,” said Thierry Jean-Baptiste of the Bureau de la communauté haïtienne de Montréal. “They order groceries. They are in fear of ICE.”

Advocates are imploring Canada to withdraw from or modify the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which prevents some Haitians fleeing the U.S. — a designated “safe” country — from claiming asylum here. Canada still has a humanitarian moratorium on deportations to Haiti. But for people who come here from the U.S. seeking asylum who don’t have family in Canada, it’s a different story.

“The problem is that under the Safe Third Country Agreement, many people would then be pushed back to the United States,” said Julia Sande, Amnesty International Canada lawyer. By deporting Haitians back to the U.S., knowing they will be sent to their home country, “it’s a violation of Canada’s legal obligations,” she said.

Frantz André, an advocate for asylum seekers, said Canada is essentially deporting asylum seekers to Haiti by proxy, making Canada complicit in a humanitarian crisis. He said Canada should opt out of the STCA and welcome Haitians coming from the U.S. Otherwise, he said, Canada is effectively doing Trump’s bidding.

Fluctuating numbers and historical context

Migrant rights groups said they don’t have reliable statistics on the number of Haitians leaving the United States for Canada, but said anecdotal reports indicate an increase in interest since Trump signaled he would end TPS.

The numbers of Haitians seeking refuge in Canada from all countries — including the United States — have fluctuated in recent years, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. The total reached 7,864 in 2024 before sharply rising to 14,192 the following year. For the first quarter of this year, 1,734 Haitians sought protection in Canada, which offers them its own version of TPS.

In 2010, both Canada and the United States began allowing Haitians to live in their countries following a deadly earthquake and subsequent political upheaval in their country.

U.S. response and impact on Haitian communities

The Department of Homeland Security declined to answer questions about whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would target Haitians who lost TPS, but said anyone who leaves voluntarily can get a $2,600 payment and a free flight home.

“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that—temporary,” DHS said. “For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”

Migration experts said Haitians who lost TPS also lost work authorization, forcing them to either remain in the United States illegally while working under the table, or to seek a new life elsewhere. In return for permission to live and work in the United States, TPS-holders were required to give the federal government their addresses and other personal information that could now be used to track them down.

“As policies change, as people are stripped of their status, as this chaos unfolds, if people no longer feel safe in the United States, of course they’re going to come to Canada,” said Julia Sande, a Canada-based immigration attorney with Amnesty International.

RCMP officials also confirmed an increasing number of Haitians seeking refuge in Canada. Many migrants see Canada as more welcoming than the United States under Trump, who made immigration enforcement and deportations a key plank of his 2024 presidential campaign.

In Springfield, Ohio, some Haitians have been called into ICE offices and fitted with GPS-based ankle monitors to limit their movements to within 75 miles of home.

The loss of TPS has left thousands of Haitians in Boston and New England reeling, said Sarang Sekhavat, the chief of staff for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.