MIAMI — A group of Democratic U.S. senators is urging the Biden administration to immediately expand and extend immigration protections for Haitians in the United States as Haiti’s ongoing civil unrest, gang violence and kidnappings force thousands to leave.
Led by Massachusetts Sen. Edward J. Markey, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the group of 15 lawmakers is asking that Temporary Protected Status be redesignated for Haiti. Haiti’s current 18-months designation expires in February.
Under that designation, Haitians who were living in the United States as of July 29, 2021, were allowed to take advantage of the humanitarian relief when the Biden administration expanded the eligibility requirements after the July 7, 2021, assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Nationals of countries designated under TPS are allowed to temporarily live and work legally in the United States without fear of deportation.
While 55,000 Haitians have been granted TPS to date, it was estimated during the last TPS designation by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that 155,000 Haitians would be eligible for TPS. That figure may have increased since then, advocates say.
Among those supporting Markey’s effort are: fellow Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who is the most senior Democratic senator; U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois; and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Their letter was sent to the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department Wednesday morning.
The lawmakers argue that by redesignating TPS the administration would further expand the pool of eligible Haitians by giving those who fled to the United States after Haiti’s deadly Aug. 14, 2021, earthquake the same benefit. The TPS request comes as Haiti experiences fuel, food and water shortages as a result of a powerful gang alliance blocking its main fuel terminal and seaports, and as the administration decides whether to continue with the designation, extend it for another 18 months after it expires or to redesignate TPS for Haitians to capture more recent arrivals.
“In light of the worsening conditions in Haiti, including prolific gang violence, widespread civil and political unrest since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and the inability of average Haitians to obtain gasoline, food, water, health care, and other basic necessities, extending and redesignating Haiti’s TPS status is urgently warranted,” the senators wrote.
Redesignation, the senators write, would allow newly arrived Haitians in the United States to lawfully support themselves and the communities where they live as Haiti continues to face escalating gang violence, a fuel blockade, an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and now a deadly cholera outbreak. As a result of the country’s instability, thousands of Haitians have taken to the sea in hopes of trying to get to the United States on unseaworthy boats by reaching Florida or Puerto Rico.
The U.S. southern border also continues to draw waves of Haitian migrants, mostly through Mexico and South American nations. The flows have led the Biden administration to deport more than 26,000 Haitians since coming into office and to be the object of criticism from immigration advocates.
“Denying access to TPS to recent arrivals will neither serve as an effective deterrent to future border crossings, given Haitians’ desperation to flee dire conditions, nor cause them to leave the United States voluntarily in light of the continuing extraordinary conditions preventing their safe return home,” Markey said. “It will simply ensure that Haitians will live in poverty and at risk of removal in the United States.”
In May 2020, Markey, whose district has a growing Haitian American population, urged then-President Donald Trump to halt deportations to Haiti during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to protect the country’s people and its weak public health infrastructure.
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