NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to grant a reprieve for hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants facing the termination of temporary protected status that has allowed them to legally live and work in the United States for years.

Characterizing the move by the feds as “callous” and “cruel,” Hochul told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that “abruptly ending” TPS would force the city and state to fire hundreds of essential workers within a matter of days and wreak havoc on the private sector, especially healthcare.

‘The sudden removal of these members of our workforce and our communities will impact critical services that New Yorkers rely on — with a particularly heavy impact on the healthcare industry, putting our seniors and other vulnerable New Yorkers at risk,” Hochul wrote in the letter. “These individuals have made enormous contributions to our communities and our economy, and helped define the character of our state.”

The governor also said it would be wrong for the U.S. to force Haitians to return to their homeland when the poverty and gang violence that led to their TPS status have not eased.

“By knowingly and cruelly forcing thousands of families to leave our country and return to their home countries, regardless of any ongoing or worsening humanitarian crises, the White House is committing a reckless and inhumane act,” she wrote. “But it is not too late to reverse course.”

DHS defended Trump’s push to revoke TPS, a move that got the green light from the Supreme Court after a lengthy legal fight.

“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”

The letter from Hochul was dated Friday but publicly released Monday and first reported by Politico.

Hochul’s plea, which she says she discussed on the phone with Trump, comes after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also called on Trump to delay or roll back the revocation of TPS, especially for Haitians.

The city last week was forced to dismiss several Haitian city employees who had been in the U.S. under TPS. City Hall officials determined that if they waited longer to lay off those workers, that it could backfire and ultimately hurt their ability to remain in the city or in the U.S.

Aside from state and municipal workers, an unknown number of Haitian immigrants with TPS in New York have been working legally, especially in transportation and as nurses, health aides and home care workers.

Their employers will likely have to ax those workers, too, forcing them to either seek an alternate legal status to remain in the country, join the ranks of millions of undocumented immigrants or face deportation.

Returning to Haiti is a nonstarter for most immigrants because the political, economic and crime situation has only deteriorated since the devastating 2010 earthquake that spurred the initial granting of TPS.

Around 350,000 Haitians nationwide are enrolled in TPS. Similar protections for immigrants from El Salvador are expected to be revoked effective next month.

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