WASHINGTON, United States — US military officials said Tuesday American warships had arrived off the coast of Haiti, as the island country's leaders cling to power in their ongoing war against violent drug gangs.

 

The USS Stockdale, USCGC Stone and USCGC Diligence entered the Bay of Port-au-Prince to "reflect the United States unwavering commitment to Haiti's security, stability and a brighter future," the US embassy in Haiti posted on X.

 

The flotilla was sent "at the direction of the Secretary of War" Pete Hegseth as a part of "Operation Southern Spear," the statement said, referring to the US military campaign targeting alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that has killed more than 100 people in boat strikes.

 

After facing years of violence and instability, Haiti is entering a new phase of political turbulence in the days before the official end of the mandate for the country's Presidential Transitional Council on February 7.

 

Gang violence forced the resignation in 2024 of a previous prime minister, Ariel Henry, and the country has not held elections since 2016, with government authority collapsing in much of the country, leading to overlapping security, health and economic crises.

 

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with swaths of the country under the control of rival armed gangs who carry out murders, rapes and kidnappings.

 

The US recently announced new visa restrictions targeting senior officials, who are accused of supporting gangs.

 

A US judge has blocked the Trump administration's decision to strip some 350,000 Haitian immigrants of deportation protections set to expire Tuesday.

 

In a scathing 83-page ruling, Judge Ana Reyes declared that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem does not have the authority to end the safeguards known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

 

"Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants," Reyes wrote. "This seems substantially likely."

 

Noem's actions were "arbitrary and capricious," the judge said.

 

She continued: "Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants."

 

But Noem is obligated "to apply faithfully the facts of the law in implementing the TPS program," the judge said.

 

Haiti's many woes include severe poverty, rampant violence from heavily armed gangs that control much of the country including most of the capital Port-au-Prince, and chronic political instability.

 

The current transitional government is very weak, with Haiti not holding any elections in the past 10 years.

 

In Florida, which is home to more than 150,000 Haitians with TPS, activists and local lawmakers welcomed the judge's decision but warned that the Trump administration could appeal it.

 

"This is a step forward. This is breathing room, but breathing room is not stability," said Marleine Bastien, a county-level lawmaker in the Miami area and a Haitian-born activist.

 

"If it is not safe for US citizens to travel to Haiti, if it is not safe for planes to fly to Haiti, then by God, it is not safe for anyone to be forcibly returned there," Bastien told a news conference.

 

TPS protects its holders from deportation and allows them to work.

 

It is granted to people deemed to be in danger if they return to their home countries, because of war, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances.

 

The Trump administration has pushed to dismantle the TPS program as part of its broader immigration crackdown.

 

It argues that TPS lures undocumented immigrants, has been used improperly and was extended for too long under previous Democratic administrations.

 

Haiti was designated as eligible for TPS after a devastating earthquake that struck it in 2010. This status has been extended several times, most recently in 2021 under the Biden administration.