Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee for Florida governor, said Sunday he has been meeting with Haitian officials and defended the end of Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians as the U.S. resumes deportations to the country.
"I've actually had meetings with the transitional government and the ambassador for the transitional government," Donalds said on CBS News' "Face the Nation." He said Haitian authorities are building security forces and have regained control of "about a quarter to half of the country" from gangs.
Byron Donalds says he has worked w the transitional government of Haiti and it is safe enough for Hatians seeking asylum in America to start going home. pic.twitter.com/jo5dSItaBi
— Chris Nelson 🏝️🇺🇸 (@ReOpenChris) August 23, 2026
Donalds made the comments days after winning Florida's Republican gubernatorial primary and as the consequences of ending Haitian TPS begin to take effect. On Thursday, the U.S. deported 161 people to Haiti, the first such flight since the Trump administration prevailed in its legal effort to terminate the protections.
The flight landed in Cap-Haitien rather than Port-au-Prince, where gang violence has made the main international airport too dangerous for U.S. commercial flights. Gangs control an estimated 70% of the capital and territory beyond it, while violence has displaced about 1.5 million people nationwide.
Donalds argued that TPS, first granted to Haitians following the 2010 earthquake, was never intended to continue indefinitely.
TPS lasting "into perpetuity with no end," he said, creates "the wrong incentives to make sure that people can return to their home country, stabilize that country, and make sure that it returns to normalcy."
The issue has particular significance in Florida, where roughly 158,000 Haitian TPS holders lived as of January, according to immigration advocacy group FWD.us. The group estimates about 93,000 work in the state, contributing $2.6 billion annually to its economy.
Donalds will face Democrat David Jolly in November after winning Tuesday's GOP primary. His comments come as he shifts toward the general election, where he has recently emphasized affordability and appealed to a broader statewide electorate.
The State Department continues to advise Americans not to travel to Haiti because of kidnapping, crime, terrorism, civil unrest and limited health care.
