Haitian immigration to America as of 2023, by the numbers

This story is part of the Haitians in America series looking at Haitians and Haitian Americans across the United States. Financial support for this work is provided by the Ford Foundation.

The year 2023 offered more opportunities than ever before for Haitians to come into the United States legally. Between President Joe Biden’s extensions of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which allows Haitian immigrants to stay and work legally, and the launch of the humanitarian parole process (I-134A) involving financial sponsors, Haitian families found new avenues to bring loved ones into the United States or to keep them here.

The volume is only now starting to become evident as the year winds down. The impact of these programs will be felt across American life in 2024, certainly, with the presidential elections. And as Haitians settle in, officials will continue to grapple with city budgets, housing initiatives, social service programs and employment levels to accommodate their growing numbers. 

Here’s a look at the most telling figures.

10 - The top 10 metro areas with the most Haitians are within or close to the six states into which the majority immigrants arrive  — Florida, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California and Texas.

Top 10 U.S. Metropolitan Areas for Haitian Immigrants, 2017-22. Migration Policy Institute.

60 - Haitians deported from the U.S. less than 24 hours after the U.S. urged its citizens to leave Haiti “as soon as possible” in August 2023.

150 - Minimum days an asylum applicant must be in the U.S. before applying for a work permit. 

5,100 -  Haitians intercepted at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard in the first 11 months of FY 2023.

112,000 - Haitian nationals approved through the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan (CHNV)  parole program – also known as the Biden Program – as of December 2023. 

116,500 - Haitians registered with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which grants work authorization and relief from deportation. Reregistration runs until August 3, 2024.  

123,294 - Pending Haitian immigration cases, many for deportation, throughout the U.S. 

731,000 - Number of Haitian immigrants residing in the U.S., making Haitians the 15th largest foreign-born population.

1.2 million - Number of people in the U.S. of Haitian ancestry or race. About 42% were born in the U.S., according to the 2020 U.S. Census and MPI tabulation data. 

1.5 million - Financial sponsors for the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan humanitarian parole who applied within a few months of the program’s start. 

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Sources: 

• U.S. Census Bureau 2010 and 2022 American Community Surveys (ACS), and Campbell J. Gibson and Kay Jung, "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850-2000," available onlineEditSign.
• MPI tabulation of data from Department of Homeland Security (DHS), “Table 10D: Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Broad Class of Admission and Region and Country of Birth: Fiscal Year 2022,” updated August 21, 2023, available online.
• Customs and Border Protection updates

MPI tabulations of data from the World Bank Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), “Remittance Inflows,” June 2023 update, available online.