How ending TPS is squeezing workers, businesses and (soon) consumers

In early 2025, roughly 1.3 million people living in the United States had Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a humanitarian designation that allows foreign nationals from unsafe countries to live and work legally in the U.S. By the end of the year, that number could drop to zero. The Trump administration has moved to terminate TPS for dozens of countries, including Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and Sudan. To understand what happens when a million legal workers suddenly lose the right to work, The Indicator looks to North Miami, Florida—home to one of the largest Haitian communities in the U.S.—where the effects are already visible.

The quiet streets of North Miami

Sabine Dolcio, a U.S. citizen who runs a wedding and event planning business in the Miami area, describes what her neighborhood normally looks like: parents walking kids to school, people shopping at markets along Sixth Avenue. But after the Trump administration officially terminated TPS for more than 300,000 Haitians, and as local immigration enforcement ramped up, the streets went quiet. “I was like, huh. I was like, where is everybody?” she says. “People are staying within their homes and not leaving for safety reasons.”