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The U.S. House on Thursday passed legislation that would extend temporary protected status for Haitians for three years, setting up a potential clash with the Senate and President Donald Trump over whether protections can survive legal and political pressure. The House vote was 224-204, with applause in the chamber, and supporters framed the bill as an attempt to preserve safety for people living lawfully in the United States under TPS.
The bill was pushed forward by House Democrats with a group of Republicans, against objections from GOP leadership, according to the Associated Press. It would require a three-year extension of temporary protected status for Haitians by the Trump administration, supporters said, so qualifying immigrants could remain in the country without fear of deportation.
Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, said she spoke from personal experience about the importance of Haitian neighbors to U.S. communities. “I know firsthand how important our Haitian neighbors are to our communities, to our civic life, to our culture, to our workforce, to our economy,” Pressley said.
During House debate, Pressley discussed the role Haitian immigrants with temporary legal status play across sectors including health care and housing construction. Haitians with that status “are not the problem, quite the contrary, they are part of the solution,” she said. Pressley also said deporting Haitians back to Haiti would be a “death sentence,” citing the effects of natural disasters and gang violence, and she argued that “Congress can do the right thing.”
Ten Republicans—many from districts with large numbers of Haitian residents—joined all Democrats and one independent in voting for passage, according to the AP report. Among those participating, Rep. Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., said she introduced the legislation with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York and described it as fulfilling a pledge to protect constituents’ status.
At a news conference, Gillen said, “It’s cruel to expect Haitians to be forced to return to these deadly, dangerous conditions,” adding that “Human lives are at risk.” Lawler said there are differences of opinion on immigration policy but argued that Haitians have become vital to his community, saying they are “small business owners, they are nurses, they are caregivers,” and that “Congress has a responsibility to act.”
But some Republicans opposed the measure, criticizing the way TPS can keep temporary status in place. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said, “Make temporary permanent,” describing it as the plan, while Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas called the program a “backdoor amnesty.” Rep. Tom McClintock of California said the temporary status first granted under the Obama administration has become “an open-ended invitation” for immigrants to enter the country, including some who he said entered illegally, and remain, according to the AP.
The House vote also reflected a procedural strategy by Democrats using a discharge petition to bring the bill to the floor. The discharge process forces consideration despite GOP leadership, a tool that once was rare but has been used more frequently to build bipartisan coalitions, the AP report said. It noted that Pressley’s effort to discharge the bill began with support from four Republicans and expanded once the bill reached the floor for the final vote.
Supporters and opponents framed the bill against the backdrop of ongoing efforts by the administration to end TPS protections for multiple groups. The AP report said the protections for Haiti, approved after a devastating 2010 earthquake, have been extended multiple times, and it cited the State Department warning Americans not to travel to Haiti due to “kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest.”
The timeline for possible legal change is also fast-moving: the AP report said that within two weeks the Supreme Court is set to consider a fast-track case that would end TPS protections for Haitian and Syrian immigrants, a challenge described as threatening the broader program. The administration filed emergency appeals after lower courts stopped an immediate end to the program, the report said, and the bill’s supporters portrayed the House action as Congress trying to act before the court’s decision.