A US federal judge has blocked the end of protections that have allowed roughly 350,000 Haitians to live in the United States, dealing President Donald Trump's immigration agenda another legal, though perhaps temporary, setback.

US District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington granted a request to pause the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds. The termination, which was set for Tuesday, “shall be null, void, and of no legal effect,” she wrote.

“We can breathe for a little bit,” said Rose-Thamar Joseph, the operations director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Ohio.

Reyes said in an 83-page opinion that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of the case, and that she found it “substantially likely” that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem preordained her termination decision because of “hostility to nonwhite immigrants.”

The judge, an appointee of former US president Joe Biden, said Noem did not have “unbounded discretion” and was required to consult with other agencies on conditions in Haiti.

The ruling cited Noem's own words three days after announcing an end to Haitian protections, calling for a travel ban from Haiti and “every damn country that has been flooding our nation with killers, leeches and entitlement junkies”.

While the ruling grants temporary relief to Haitians, the next legal steps were unclear.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin denounced the ruling as “lawless activism”.

“Haiti’s TPS was granted following an earthquake that took place over 15 years ago," she said. “It was never intended to be a de facto amnesty programme, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades.”

DHS says Haiti has improved, but community leaders say it's still unsafe.

Temporary Protected Status can be granted by the homeland security secretary if conditions in home countries are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability or other dangers. While it grants TPS holders the right to live and work in the United States, it does not provide a legal pathway to citizenship. (AP)