Who is Judge Ana Reyes? Federal judge confirmed Haitians lost Temporary Protected Status after Supreme Court ruling
US District Judge Ana Cecelia Reyes officially confirmed that hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants in the United States have lost Temporary Protected Status (TPS) on Wednesday. Reyes acknowledged that her earlier decision pausing the administration’s action had been overturned and was “no longer in effect.”
She shared this latest update after a Supreme Court ruling that allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to terminate the designation.
The two-page order, issued on Wednesday, follows the US Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision earlier this summer holding that federal courts lacked authority to block the administration’s termination of TPS while litigation continues.
The ruling cleared the way for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end protections for more than 300,000 Haitian migrants.
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Who is Judge Ana Reyes?
Ana Cecilia Reyes has served as a US District Judge for the District of Columbia since February 2023. She was appointed to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden. She succeeded Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly after her Senate confirmation.
Reyes was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. She graduated summa cum laude from Transylvania University before earning her JD, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2000.
She also holds a Master of International Public Policy with honors at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
According to the District of Columbia official website, Reyes clerked for Judge Amalya L. Kearse of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after law school.
She then spent more than two decades at Williams & Connolly LLP, where she specialized in international litigation. Her clients included foreign governments, multinational corporations and government officials. She also handled patent disputes, legal malpractice claims and other complex civil cases.
Reyes also devoted significant time to pro bono work representing refugees and asylum seekers alongside her private practice. She worked with organizations like he United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Human Rights First.
In 2016, she received the Legacy Award from Unlikely Heroes for representing young women fleeing persecution by a regional terrorist organization.
What is Temporary Protected Status?
Temporary Protected Status was created under the Immigration Act of 1990.
The status allows eligible foreign nationals already in the United States to remain temporarily in conditions when returning to their home countries would be unsafe because of armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions.
The designation for Haitian immigrants had first been granted in 2010 following the devastating earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation.
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Reyes’ role in the Trump vs TPS for Haitians row
Reyes initially blocked the Trump administration’s effort to revoke TPS for Haitians in February 2026. This temporarily preserved deportation protections while legal challenges moved through the courts.
However, the Supreme Court later ruled that the administration could proceed with ending the program, hence reversing Reyes’ earlier decision.
In Wednesday’s order, she formally acknowledged that her injunction no longer applies.
The DHS had officially terminated Haiti’s TPS designation on July 27. The Trump administration said that the circumstances in Haiti no longer warranted the classification when it revoked TPS for the country’s citizens.
According to immigration advocacy group Fwd.us, roughly 330,000 Haitians were living in the United States under TPS as of January 2026. BREAKING NEWS previously reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was preparing to increase arrests and deportations after the protections expired.
However, the US State Department continues to advise Americans against travelling to Haiti because of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, civil unrest and limited healthcare.