In a rare bipartisan moment, the United States House of Representatives passed legislation last week that would extend temporary protections for Haitian immigrants, a long-shot effort fighting back against President Donald Trump’s attempts to end the program.
The bill, pushed forward by House Democrats with a group of Republicans over the objections of the GOP leadership, would require a three-year extension of temporary protected status for Haitians by the Trump administration.
That would allow hundreds of thousands of qualifying immigrants to remain in the United States without fear of deportation.
“I was initially surprised that three years was even on the table,” said Hansmie Pierre, a Haitian TPS holder who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, “but if this were to pass this would be the longest amount of time that we would have some breathing room.”
The vote was 224-204, drawing applause in the chamber. Ten Republicans, many from districts with large numbers of Haitian residents, joined all Democrats and one independent in voting for passage.
But it faces uncertainty in the Senate, and the Republican president would almost certainly seek to veto it.
The effort to help 350,000 Haitians living lawfully in the United States comes as the administration is working to end the temporary legal status for several groups, exposing them to deportation.
Jean Michel Noel, who immigrated to the United States in 2020, has worked as a truck driver for four years. He said his commercial driver’s license, or CDL, was revoked by the state of Indiana as part of a decision to cancel CDLs held by noncitizens, including many immigrants, following the passage of House Enrolled Act 1200.
Noel, who now works as a barber to make ends meet, said an extension of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, would allow him to get back on the road because he could apply for a new CDL under that status.
In less than two weeks, the Supreme Court is prepared to consider a fast-track case that would end the protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants in a challenge widely seen as threatening the broader program.
The administration filed emergency appeals after lower courts stopped the immediate end of the program.
The protections for Haiti, first approved after a devastating 2010 earthquake, have been extended multiple times. The State Department warns Americans not to travel to Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest.”
Pierre, who came to the United States under TPS as a child, said she hopes lawmakers will help provide a permanent solution.
“Leaving here, if we had to, would be incredibly difficult,” she said. “I definitely think it’s time for action to give us a path to citizenship, even with TPS.”
