Politics Expiration of protected status threatens Boston’s Haitian families More than 350,000 Haitians nationwide, including thousands in Boston, could lose legal status when Temporary Protected Status ends Feb. 3. A festival attendee waves a Haitian flag while wearing a hat with both U.S. and Haitian colors at a May 2025 Haitian flag festival in Somerville. “We strongly believe that right now we are in the middle of the largest mass delegalization of people who already have immigration status in the United States,” Jozef said. “We’ve been victimized over and over and over again as a nation, as Black people, as Haitian,” Desire said. A society where we welcome all — this is a country of immigrants.”Advertisement:For now, however, Boston’s Haitian community remains in limbo.