Haitian immigrants win bipartisan victory in Congress but still need faith-based allies as legislation heads to the Senate
House vote followed Presbyterian Hunger Program webinar that explained the importance of Temporary Protected Status and lifted up Springfield, Ohio
LOUISVILLE — A victory came this week against the Trump administration’s efforts to end Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants, an advocacy issue that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and some of its partners have been keeping a close watch on.
The House passed a bill Thursday to extend TPS for three years for that population, clearing the way for the humanitarian legislation to move forward for consideration by the Republican-controlled Senate.
The bipartisan “victory in the House is a major milestone for not only TPS holders from Haiti but also our communities where they live and work,” said Global Ecumenical Liaison Cindy Corell. “They work hard, create businesses, maintain homes and pay taxes.”
Other supporters celebrating the 224-204 House vote include the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a PC(USA) partner that has been pushing for passage of the bill with allies, such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley, as a way to “safeguard the lives and futures of more than 350,000 Haitians living in the United States,” according to a news release.
“As the legislation moves to the United States Senate, Haitian Bridge Alliance urges continued bipartisan cooperation to ensure swift passage,” the grassroots group notes. “The stakes remain high: without TPS protections, hundreds of thousands of Haitian families face the risk of deportation to a country experiencing profound political instability, violence and humanitarian crisis. In the meantime, HBA will continue with its robust advocacy efforts until this becomes law.”
Amanda Craft of the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness also stresses the need to continue reaching out to elected officials to seek support of TPS for Haitians — and for long-term relief.
“TPS provides a lifeline, and yet there is still a vast need for immigration reform to provide relief to individuals, families and communities with a pathway to more permanent options,” said Craft, manager of immigration advocacy.
Being in solidarity with Haitian immigrants was the focus of an April 14 webinar by the Global Solidarity Collective, an initiative of the Presbyterian Hunger Program.
The conversation, moderated by Corell, centered on the Haitian community of Springfield, Ohio, and how it's endured various crises, from false allegations spread during the 2024 presidential race to uncertainty surrounding TPS.
Webinar speakers explained the history and ramifications of TPS, which allows immigrants from federally designated countries to remain in the U.S. because conditions in their home countries are deemed to be unsafe or untenable.
“Critics of extending TPS often note that the status is temporary, and that’s true,” Corell added after the webinar. “But the ongoing struggles facing people living in Haiti have only increased.”
The Trump administration took action late last year to end TPS for Haitians. The designation was expected to terminate on Feb. 3, but that’s now on hold due to legal action, and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in late April.
Along with being slowed down by the courts, the administration has received pushback from the advocacy community as well as some members of Congress as evidenced by this week’s vote in the House, which came about because of a discharge petition that allowed the legislation to come forward for consideration despite opposition from House Speaker Mike Johnson and others in GOP leadership, according to media reports.
During the webinar, Craft explained that even when immigrants have TPS status, they live in limbo because their cases have to be reviewed on a regular basis and there is no pathway built into TPS for holders to become permanent residents.
“The uncertainty is and can become a form of some oppression, right? How do you make decisions about the way in which you continue to live your life when you're constantly uncertain if the Department of Homeland Security will extend the status?” she said. TPS is a “temporary stopgap,” and “there's a lot of emotional and economic and personal instability that (TPS) can create for individuals.”
The Rev. Viles Dorsainvil, a pastor who serves as executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, spoke on the emotional ups and downs that Haitian immigrants have faced in that area, noting the anxiety and fear felt by many when the Trump administration moved to terminate TPS protections.
“It created so much chaos at some point in time,” said Dorsainvil. “We were afraid that would turn into a humanitarian crisis, and up to now, we are still struggling with that.” For example, “folks come to our office for the simple reason to look for a job,” but some employers are now declining to take TPS holders. “So there is the economic impact, the uncertainty, the anxiety, the panic. People cannot plan their lives maybe three months down the road. It's a huge concern in the community.”
Dorsainvil said Haitians have lived in Springfield since at least 2015, but the most recent influx came after Haiti’s president Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021, leaving the people of Haiti at the mercy of treacherous gangs.
“At that time, the hoodlums were very powerful, so ... professors, students, business owners, they started to leave Haiti,” and many arrived in Springfield “to have a place for safe haven,” he said.
Dorsainvil stressed that the Haitians are documented and that many came through a Biden administration program that allowed certain people to come to the U.S. to live and work lawfully for two years if they had a sponsor.
“They came here by airplane. They came here through the Mexican borders. But whichever way they came in, they were vetted, and they have an I-94 which allowed them to … apply for (a) work permit, to have a social [security number] to allow them to work and to open businesses and to buy homes and etc., etc., and also to be eligible for some of the social benefits. But one of the things that I would have to say is that not all of them have the eligibility for social benefits,” he said.
Providing some history on TPS, Craft noted that TPS originated with the Immigration Act of 1990, which was “signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in November of that year.”
“It was an opportunity for folks to have some stability, knowing that returning home wasn't possible,” Craft said. “The first country who received TPS status were nationals from El Salvador who were in the United States.”
Under the current administration, “designation, extension and re-designation has been very challenging,” she said.
The Rev. Jody Noble, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Springfield, described how difficult it was for the Haitian community in the early part of the year and how others in the community responded.
“Those days at the end of January and February were some of the most heart-wrenching, sad days for our Haitian brothers and sisters to watch,” she said. Also, there was “the loss of the jobs, the loss of transportation, the loss of certainty in the short paths that were available, even of the day to day of children not going to school.”
People of various faiths, however, have rallied around them with prayer and other forms of support, including making plans for children to be cared for if their parents were to be detained.
“It is a beautiful thing to watch people of faith, not everybody because we certainly have people of faith who interpret Scripture differently, but to say, by and large, people who are saying, ‘I will stand. I will pray. I will transport. I will donate food. I will deliver food,” or be an emergency respite family, Noble said.
Craft explained that the PC(USA) and partners, such as the Haitian Bridge Alliance and the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, also have been supportive through various advocacy efforts — in the courts and beyond — to stand in solidarity with Haitians and other immigrants impacted by U.S. immigration policy and to seek pathways of protection for them.
Webinar viewers were encouraged to reach out to their members of Congress to urge them to be supportive as well.
Meanwhile, Dorsainvil hopes that the United States will someday implement broader immigration reform to eliminate system gaps and be more welcoming.
If you’re in the U.S. and “you've been doing well and you don't have any criminal record, and you go to school, you're a homeowner, you're contributing, you're a taxpayer, there should be a way that the system opens to you to have a more permanent residence,” he said. Being able to get a green card is “so tricky, and they cost a lot of money, and they take a long time to do that, and I don't know why they make it so difficult, but it's crazy.”
Watch the full webinar here.
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