(José Niño, Headline USA) Six House Republicans broke with their party on Wednesday to join Democrats in advancing legislation that would restore temporary protections for Haitian immigrants living in the United States, dealing a blow to a central pillar of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, NBC News reported.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who serves as co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, brought the measure forward through a discharge petition, a parliamentary maneuver that allows members to bypass leadership opposition and force floor votes. The bill cleared a crucial procedural hurdle on Wednesday and will receive a final vote on Thursday. If enacted, the legislation would grant Temporary Protected Status to eligible Haitian immigrants for three years.
“This is a critical step forward in our fight for immigrant justice and delivering our Haitian neighbors the protections they deserve—and it’s a testament to the strength of our broad, diverse, and bipartisan coalition,” Pressley stated, adding that she was “grateful” to her Republican colleagues who supported the measure.
Reps. Laura Gillen of New York, a Democrat, and Mike Lawler, a Republican also from New York, originally introduced the bill last year in the Republican-controlled chamber.
Gillen took to the House floor on Wednesday to highlight what she described as a contradiction in administration policy.
“The State Department claims it is too dangerous for American citizens to go to Haiti because of kidnapping, gang violence and widespread chaos, but yet, the administration has said it’s safe for Haitians to return there,” Gillen stated. She argued that “removing our neighbors would not just be a humanitarian catastrophe; it would hurt our economy,” noting that Haitian immigrants “work in critical sectors like health care, education, caregiving, supporting our elderly and working in local hospitals.”
The Temporary Protected Status program permits foreign nationals from nations experiencing war, natural disasters, or other dangerous conditions to live and work in the United States for a designated period.
The Trump administration attempted to end TPS for approximately 350,000 Haitian immigrants last summer, but a federal judge blocked the effort. The administration filed an appeal after the judge indefinitely postponed the terminations in February. The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case this month.
The discharge petition passed 219-209, with Republican Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos A. Gimenez of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Mike Lawler, and Nicole Malliotakis of New York joining 212 Democrats and one independent in supporting the measure.
“Removing TPS status for Haitians living in the United States would cost 350,000 workers their ability to work at a time when we’re already facing serious workforce shortages,” Bacon wrote on X. “I don’t see the goodness of deporting people who are here legally, working, and contributing to our country.”
Malliotakis posted that her office has received warnings from nursing homes in her New York district “that will lose skilled and dedicated nursing staff if TPS is not renewed.”
“These are Haitian immigrants who are working, paying taxes and contributing to our economy and fulfilling a healthcare need. To strip them of their status and deport them to a country in peril would be uncompassionate and misguided,” she wrote.
The vote occurred less than a week after Trump posted a graphic video showing a man attacking a woman with a hammer at a Florida gas station. The woman died from her injuries, and police arrested a suspect identified as Rolbert Joachin, whom the Department of Homeland Security described as an undocumented Haitian immigrant. Trump blamed Democrats, “Deranged Liberal District Court Judges,” and the Biden administration on Truth Social for policies he claims allowed Joachin to receive TPS.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
