The Trump administration has announced it will remove temporary protected status for thousands of Haitian migrants, putting them on track for removal from the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vacated a decision made by the Biden administration to extend TPS for 18 months, meaning it will now expire on Aug. 3, adding a new wrinkle to a saga that played a big role in last year’s presidential election.

“Biden and [former DHS secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas attempted to tie the hands of the Trump administration by extending Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status by 18 months—far longer than justified or necessary,” a DHS spokeswoman said.

“We are returning integrity to the TPS system, which has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens for decades,” she added. “President Donald Trump and Secretary Noem are returning TPS to its original status: temporary.”

TPS allows migrants from designated countries to remain in the U.S. even if they originally entered the country illegally, and it is typically used if there is a war or environmental disaster in their home country.

Haiti has been designated for TPS since a massive earthquake hit the country 15 years ago, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to move to the U.S. However, the vast majority entered during the Biden administration, according to DHS. The agency estimates that 57,000 Haitians were eligible in 2011, a number that reached 155,000 in August 2021 and then jumped to 520,694 by July 2024.

The problem reached a fever pitch last fall when the Trump campaign amplified claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating dogs and cats.

“A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it,” Trump said during his only presidential debate with Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

While that claim was unfounded, it spotlighted the fact that up to 20,000 people from Haiti had been allowed to move into the mid-sized city, causing disruption and concern among many of the city’s residents.

Trump won the city of Springfield for the first time last year and improved his margins in Clark County, where the city is located.

Now, those migrants could be forced to return home later this year, though the move is likely to face legal challenges.

Vice President JD Vance, an Ohio native and former U.S. Senator, praised the administration’s immigration stance during remarks on Thursday without mentioning Springfield specifically.

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“It’s simple: American tax dollars should go to American citizens, not to illegal aliens,” he posted on X. “The Trump Administration is getting control of the border and stopping this insanity in its tracks.”

The news follows an announcement last month that Noem was rescinding TPS for Venezuela.