On July 27, a U.S. administrative decision shook the Haitian diaspora: more than 350,000 nationals covered by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) lost their legal authorization to work in the United States. Although the tragedy is first and foremost human and personal for these families, this article shows that the risk extends far beyond them. For Haiti, this represents a systemic macroeconomic threat.

The money sent by the diaspora—the well-known “remittances”—does not serve only to help a mother or cousin buy groceries. These funds quietly sustain the national foreign exchange market. They provide the entire country with the foreign currency—dollars—needed to purchase abroad what it can no longer produce at home.