Protesters crowded around the steps of a Mattapan church Sunday calling for the protection of thousands of Haitian immigrants from deportation, as White House officials weighed eliminating their US legal status.

The protesters, singing a song of freedom in Haitian Creole, demanded immigrants from Haiti and thousands more from Central America be granted an extension under the federal Temporary Protected Status Program, which allows immigrants from countries destabilized by war and disaster to come to the United States.

The Rev. Gustave Miracle, speaking outside St. Angela Catholic Church where the rally was held, said that 57 people from the congregation are here under the program and could be forced to return to Haiti.

“All you are trying to do as a priest is give people hope,’’ said Miracle. “These threats are trying to destroy. That is what we are living with now.’’

Last week, Trump administration officials announced that more than 300,000 Central Americans and Haitians legally living in the United States under the program may no longer be shielded from deportation, according to The Washington Post.

Changing that status could mean as many as 58,000 Haitians living legally in the country would have to leave, said Haitian-Americans United Inc., which organized the rally.

Sunday’s rally drew hundreds of people, including parishioners who attended a weekly Mass said in Haitian Creole. It focused on the Haitian community but found common cause with immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua who are also living in the United States under the same federal program.

Emotions ran high as protesters waved Haitian flags and chanted calls for action.

“Speak! Act! Stand!’’ the crowd called out.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has told the head of the Department of Homeland Security that conditions in Central America and Haiti no longer necessitated that immigrants remain in the US under the temporary program, the Post reported. Many have homes, businesses, and US-born children, and if they remain they would be subject to arrest and deportation.

A State Department official said Sunday that no decision has been made regarding the program for nationals of Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, or Nicaragua.

Haiti continues to recover from a 2010 earthquake that left much of the country in shambles.

According to the New York-based Center for Migration Studies, about 68,000 people from those countries came to the United States under the program when they were younger than 16.

Dieufort Fleurissaint, chairman of the Haitian-American group, said the Trump administration will make a decision on the Haitians’ status by Nov. 22.

Among the people in the crowd were Haitian immigrants worried about what the change in their legal status would mean for them and their families.

Holden, 24, of Milton, came to America from Haiti when he was 7 years old under the temporary status program. He came with his father and older brother to join his mother.

His mother arrived in 1997 and worked as a certified nursing assistant for three years to save enough money to bring the rest of her family, he said. Since they were reunited here, his parents have had two more children, a boy and a girl.

Holden, who requested his last name not be used out of fear of deportation, said he is fearful of what will happen to members of his family if their legal status ends. Holden is helping to pay for his younger brother’s college education, and his sister is just 8 years old, he said. “My heart is going to break,’’ said Holden.

Atto, 41, of Brockton, said he came to America with his wife following the 2010 earthquake hoping to make better lives for themselves. They both now work as certified nursing assistants, and their four children were born here, he said.

Atto, who also asked that his last name not be used, worries about the living conditions in Haiti and the challenges his children would face if they had to move back there.

Sunday’s rally also brought together the two candidates running in Boston’s mayoral race: incumbent Mayor Martin J. Walsh and City Councilor Tito Jackson.

Walsh, who received the endorsement of local Haitian leaders in his reelection bid, said members of the city’s Haitian and Central American communities who are living here under the program “don’t deserve this.’’

“The people of Haiti who live in the city of Boston are hard-working people who send their kids to school, that come to church and pray, [and] are part of our community,’’ Walsh told the rally.

Jackson said it is unacceptable to send immigrants back to countries that are unable to meet the needs of their people.

“It is the job of the United States of America to model what love looks like,’’ he said. “And that looks like standing with . . . the Haitians in the city of Boston. You are our brothers and sisters, and we will treat you as such.’’

Material from The Washington Post was used in this report. John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.