[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 67 (Thursday, April 16, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H2940-H2947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DESIGNATION OF HAITI FOR TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 965, the House
will proceed to the immediate consideration of the bill (H.R. 1689) to
require the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for
temporary protected status, which the Clerk will report by title.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 965, the
amendment in the nature of a substitute specified in section 4 of that
resolution, shall be considered as adopted and the bill, as amended, is
considered read.
The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:
H.R. 1689
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF HAITI FOR TEMPORARY PROTECTED
STATUS.
``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary
of Homeland Security shall designate Haiti for temporary
protected status until the date that is 3 months after
January 20, 2029.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debated for 1
hour equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and minority
leader or their respective designees.
The gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock) and the gentlewoman
from Washington (Ms. Jayapal) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and insert extraneous material on H.R. 1689.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, for 4 years, our Nation suffered the largest illegal,
mass migration in history at the hands of the Democrats. The cost to
our country is immense: hospitals overrun with illegals demanding care;
food pantries and homeless shelters overwhelmed; classrooms packed with
non-English speaking students; rampant child, sex, and labor
trafficking; hundreds of thousands of Americans dead from fentanyl
overdoses; suppressed wages for working families; billions in welfare
costs to support this population; and, worst of all, the introduction
of the most violent criminals and criminal gangs and cartels in the
world into our communities.
President Trump reversed these ruinous policies simply by enforcing
our existing immigration laws. Illegal border crossings immediately
plunged more
[[Page H2941]]
than 95 percent. The largest illegal mass migration in history is now
being followed by the largest legal deportation in history, although
the Democrats are doing everything they can to obstruct it.
One aspect of this deliberately engineered nightmare was the abuse of
so-called temporary protected status. It proved Ronald Reagan's maxim
that there is nothing more permanent on this Earth than a temporary
government program.
Now, as its name implies, temporary protected status is supposed to
provide temporary residency to legal aliens who happened to be visiting
here when a disaster in their own country temporarily prevented their
safe return. The Democrats turned this temporary program into an open-
ended and unconditional invitation for aliens to illegally enter our
country and then remain indefinitely.
Under Biden, the number of TPS beneficiaries nearly quadrupled in
just 4 years as aliens illegally entered our country in order to claim
this status.
The Immigration and Nationality Act not only gives the President the
power to extend temporary status as Biden did, it also gives the
President the power to withdraw that status when it is no longer
applicable or in the interests of our country, as this President has
done.
Barack Obama granted temporary protected status to Haitian nationals
in this country when Haiti suffered an earthquake in 2010. For 16
years, this status has persisted in different iterations, including
multiple designations, redesignations, and extensions.
During the Trump administrations, the Department of Homeland Security
has attempted to end this temporary status for Haiti, noting that
allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to reside in our
country indefinitely is counter to our national interests. The vast
majority of these TPS beneficiaries under Biden did not enter the
country legally only to find themselves stranded by unfortunate events,
rather they entered our country illegally to claim such status,
encouraged, aided, and abetted by the Democrats in power.
Indeed, as the House Judiciary Committee documented in a report early
last year, of the roughly 340,000 Haitian TPS holders, 312,000, 91
percent, came to the United States illegally. Their reward for
committing this crime was a work permit and indefinite protection from
deportation; and, yes, illegal entry into this country is a Federal
crime.
{time} 1250
Abuses like these allowed the TPS program to balloon from roughly
410,000 when Biden took office to nearly 1.5 million aliens from 16
different countries by the day he left office.
As the number of aliens with TPS skyrocketed, American communities
such as Logansport, Indiana; Springfield, Illinois; and Charleroi,
Pennsylvania, cried out for help. Charleroi's population of 4,000
swelled to 7,000 almost overnight as a flood of Haitian nationals took
up residence.
The little town was forced to spend $400,000 for English language
instructors and $1 million overall just to support the influx of
students. This was all taken from the resources that would otherwise
have been available to their own students.
Our Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee
took testimony last year from a local official there, who told us of
severe strains on housing, medical care, education, emergency services,
law enforcement services, and other social services. He testified to a
dramatic increase in traffic collisions and citizens of this peaceful,
small town now afraid to walk the streets.
The Trump administration has heeded the cries of the American people.
Since taking office, the President has moved to withdraw TPS status for
foreign nationals whose conditions no longer warrant such status. In
other cases, the Trump administration has determined that these TPS
designations are simply not in our Nation's self-interest.
These decisions are clearly provided for under the Immigration and
Nationality Act, but today my Democratic colleagues argue that we
should ignore all of this, that we should return to the Biden
administration's immigration policies, starting with Haitian TPS. If
this bill passes, I think we can expect TPS status to be extended to
the millions more who wish to exploit our country and its taxpayers.
Americans will not soon forget the image of thousands of illegal
aliens from Haiti pouring across the southwest border and crowding
under the bridge in Del Rio, Texas. Put simply, this bill would serve
as de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens from Haiti who
illegally poured across our southern border. America does not need to
relive that nightmare, and that is a choice.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the bill today, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1689 to designate Haiti
for temporary protected status, or TPS, and I thank Representatives
Pressley and Gillen for their incredible tenacity and leadership in
building the bipartisan coalition needed to get this bill to the floor.
This is a hopeful moment for so many across the country to take a
positive step forward on immigration policy in America after so much
darkness.
TPS was established with broad, bipartisan support in 1990 to provide
people who are already in the United States a safe haven when their
home countries are devastated by armed conflict, natural disaster, or
other extraordinary conditions. TPS is built on the simple idea that
America should not force people back to deadly and life-threatening
conditions, a principle that has guided both Republican and Democratic
administrations for decades.
Today, the Trump administration is dismantling this longstanding
commitment to our core values, attempting to end TPS for countries
where the conditions are still incredibly dangerous.
One country with which the President has seemed obsessed since his
first term is Haiti. The President has called Haiti a S-hole country
and cruelly attempted to end its TPS designation during his first term.
Luckily, that was stopped by the lower courts, but the threat remains.
In less than 2 weeks, the ability of the Trump administration to end
TPS for Haiti will be heard by the Supreme Court. Today, over 350,000
Haitians have TPS. It would be unconscionable to send them back to
Haiti, an action that would lead to people's deaths. That goes against
everything this country is supposed to stand for.
For years, Haiti has been dealing with significant political turmoil
that has resulted in instability all over the country. Our own State
Department has issued a Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory for Haiti. They
say that individuals should not travel to Haiti due to ``kidnapping,
crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited healthcare.'' The
country has been in a state of emergency since March of 2024.
Terminating TPS means the United States of America is forcing people to
return to real and imminent harm, even death.
However, this isn't just about what is right and wrong for Haitians
or for other TPS holders, Mr. Speaker. It is also about what benefits
Americans. Despite all the lies and misinformation spread by this
administration and its rightwing echo chamber, TPS broadly, and Haitian
TPS holders specifically, are good for our communities and our economy.
TPS has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to work legally and
to contribute to our economy. Haitian TPS recipients, in particular,
regularly work in industries that are currently experiencing severe
labor shortages, like construction and hospitality and healthcare.
In healthcare alone, Haitians are the sixth largest group of workers,
making up one in five nursing assistants, personal care aides, and home
health aides. These workers keep our economy running, helping
businesses that struggle to fill jobs. They pay taxes, support local
businesses, and contribute billions of dollars to our economy every
single year.
Each year, TPS holders from Haiti who reside in the U.S. earn $3.9
billion in total household income. They pay a total of $983.9 million
in taxes, including $600.8 million in Federal taxes and $383.1 million
in State and local taxes, and they hold $2.9 billion in spending power.
[[Page H2942]]
Many Haitian TPS holders have lived in the United States for many
years. They have followed our laws, paid their taxes, and demonstrated
their commitment to this country. Instead of stripping them of legal
status and sending them back to dangerous conditions, we should be
providing them with a path to long-term stability.
Donald Trump ran on a false promise, that he would get rid of the
``worst of the worst,'' but instead his administration has been moving
forward their real goal: Ending all legal immigration to this country.
Just a few days ago, the conservative CATO Institute published a report
showing that Trump has cut legal immigration by 2.5 times as much as
undocumented immigration since coming into office this term.
Unlawful immigration had already fallen substantially, even before
Trump took office, because the Biden administration expanded the legal
pathways that people had to be here with legal presence, work and
contribute. However, instead of maintaining that, Trump and Stephen
Miller have done everything possible to destroy all legal immigration
to this country, including eliminating TPS.
H.R. 1689 provides a glimmer of hope to immigrant communities across
the country, starting with Haitians. It tells them that we value their
work and contributions to our country. It tells them that we won't send
them to their deaths. It tells them that America still welcomes the
huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman tells us that Haitian TPS recipients
contribute to our society. Well, no doubt some do. Overall, though,
nearly 53 percent of Haitian households are on at least one major
welfare program. Let me repeat that so that it sinks in. More than half
of Haitian households are on welfare. That means they are taking from
our society, not contributing to it.
Indeed, an exhaustive study in 2017 estimated that the average
illegal immigrant costs taxpayers between $87,000 and $110,000 to
support over a lifetime. That is a net drain after you account for the
taxes that they pay. That is a minimum $27 billion cost to American
taxpayers to maintain this population.
We are told many Haitian nationals fill healthcare jobs. Well, yes,
they take healthcare jobs that would otherwise be filled by Americans.
If Americans aren't taking those jobs, it is because cheap, migrant
labor is suppressing wages in those sectors. That is why working
families lost ground under the Biden administration.
As our immigration laws are enforced, wages for working families are
again beginning to rise. This bill takes us a giant step backward for
Americans, and that shouldn't surprise anyone who saw the Democrats'
reaction on this floor when President Trump suggested that the first
responsibility of this government should be to help Americans, not
illegal immigrants.
Mr. Speaker, I am now honored and pleased to yield such time as he
may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan), the chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee.
{time} 1300
Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Immigration
Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee for the great work he
does on this issue and a host of others.
Mr. Speaker, understand the Democrats' plan. It is as straightforward
as you can imagine. First, let in 10 million illegal immigrants during
the Biden administration. Then, create sanctuary jurisdictions where it
becomes difficult to do any removal of those illegal immigrants who
commit other crimes. Then, defund ICE, the guys who actually do the
removal. Now, today, make temporary permanent. There are 300,000 people
who entered temporary protected status. Make that permanent.
Why would they do all of this? Well, frankly, they told us. Secretary
Clinton told us several years ago. They don't want a border. Remember
what she said? We need a borderless hemisphere. That is what they want.
That is the plan they are executing. I don't think the American people
want that. I think that was the big issue in the 2024 election.
Here is the result. When you allow that to happen, here is the
result, from 2 weeks ago: ``Haitian Illegal Alien Violently Kills
Innocent Mother By Repeatedly Hitting Her With a Hammer Outside Gas
Station in Fort Myers,'' in Florida. Guess what. This Haitian was here
on temporary protected status. I haven't read the full story, but my
guess is this guy probably had done some other crime and may have, in
fact, been in a sanctuary area. Who knows.
Mr. Speaker, that is the result of this policy. It is systematic. It
is intentional. Let 10 million in, create sanctuary jurisdictions where
you can't remove them or it is difficult to remove them, defund the
guys who actually do the removing, and make temporary permanent.
That is their plan. That is why this bill is wrong. I urge a ``no''
vote.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from
New York (Ms. Gillen), the sponsor of this bill.
Ms. GILLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my
bipartisan bill, H.R. 1689, to extend TPS for Haitians.
I thank all of my colleagues who voted to bring this bill to a vote
today--Democrat, Republican, and Independent. I thank Representative
Pressley, co-chair of the Haiti Caucus, for her leadership on the
discharge petition that helped make this vote possible. I am grateful
for our partnership in the fight to protect our Haitian neighbors.
My district in Nassau County is home to one of the largest Haitian
populations in the country. We are incredibly proud of that. Haitian
Long Islanders are part of the very fabric of our community. They work
in critical sectors like healthcare, education, caregiving, and
supporting our elderly, and they work in our local hospitals. Many have
built thriving businesses and have enriched our faith community.
Before I came to Congress, I made a promise to the Haitian community
in my district that I would use my voice to work with anyone from any
party to help protect this community and their existing legal status
here in the United States.
Let's be very clear. These are people who came in through the front
door legally and are paying taxes and contributing to our community.
Removing these folks would not just be a humanitarian catastrophe. It
would hurt our economy.
As soon as I got to Congress, the first bill I introduced was this
bipartisan bill to extend TPS for Haiti. I felt that saving these
people from imminent danger should not be partisan, and it was
important to get support from the other side of the aisle. I was
thrilled that my Republican colleague, Representative Mike Lawler,
joined and was an original cosponsor of this bill. This is how Congress
should be working, both sides working together.
For more than a year, we have been pushing back against the
administration and trying to do what is right and reverse this cruel,
misguided decision to force Haitians to return to Haiti when they have
come here lawfully.
The suggestion that the situation has improved in Haiti is belied by
the U.S. Department of State. The Department of State website explains
it is too dangerous for American citizens to travel to Haiti because of
kidnapping, rampant crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and
limited healthcare. How then could we say it is perfectly safe to force
Haitians to go back there and that everything is okay?
Armed gangs control 90 percent of the capital. More than 1.4 million
innocent civilians, half of them children, have been forced from their
homes. It is cruel to expect Haitians to be forced to return to these
deadly conditions. I have spoken to many Haitian families who
desperately want to see peace return to their country and would like to
go home once it is safe to do so.
I held a roundtable in my district and spoke to people. One speaker
recently traveled to Haiti and said she could not even go to Port-au-
Prince because it is so overrun by gangs. She shared that there is only
one small part of Haiti that is safe for people to go to, but
[[Page H2943]]
there is no housing and no promise of securing work. It is truly a dire
situation.
I met a young man, a TPS recipient, who has been in the United States
for a number of years. He has worked hard and graduated from college.
Now, he is giving back to his community. He is helping those who could
face the same fate as him if he loses this protection. He is dedicated
to selflessly using the opportunity that he has been given to come here
and using his voice to give back to his community. He encapsulates the
heart of the Haitian community and the true humanity of the people we
are trying to protect.
I am proud that, with the partnership of my Democratic and Republican
colleagues, we advance this discharge petition today and are voting on
my legislation. It shows the bipartisan nature of this issue. It
affects communities, red and blue.
I look forward to passing the very first bill that I introduced into
Congress and delivering on the promise I made to my district. This is
an important milestone for our hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying
Haitian friends and neighbors across the country.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this
legislation to protect their lives. I also say to my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle that I ran on immigration reform. I am 1 of 10
original Democratic cosponsors, along with 10 Republican cosponsors, of
the Dignity Act, which would transform our immigration system, secure
our border, and create a legal pathway to citizenship. I urge my
colleagues to take up immigration reform.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman said that Haitian TPS holders all
entered this country through the front door legally. That is simply
untrue. Yes, about 9 percent entered legally on visas; 91 percent
entered illegally.
She tells us that Haiti is a dangerous place, and, therefore, our
country must accept every Haitian who can illegally enter our country
and then stay indefinitely.
Haiti isn't the only dangerous country in the world. Do the Democrats
seriously argue that this is grounds for TPS for the hundreds of
millions of people around the world who live in dangerous environments?
This is absurd.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Gill).
Mr. GILL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I vehemently oppose this backdoor
amnesty bill that would allow hundreds of thousands of Haitians who
entered our country illegally to be given de facto amnesty.
Temporary protected status, as its name implies, was originally
designed to be just that, temporary. Yet, it has metastasized into what
is effectively a permanent amnesty program for unvetted foreigners all
over the globe. That is exactly what this bill extends.
Who are these people that this bill applies to? There are roughly
350,000 Haitians covered under temporary protected status in the United
States. Of those, an estimated 91 percent entered this country
illegally. An estimated 69 percent came in under the Biden
administration.
In other words, what this bill does is codify the open borders of the
previous administration that the American people overwhelmingly
rejected in the last election cycle.
Mr. Speaker, no serious country tolerates virtually unlimited numbers
of foreigners breaking and entering. Yet, that is what this bill does.
More fundamentally, Mr. Speaker, the purpose of our immigration
system is to benefit our people. It is for the benefit of Americans. We
have no obligation to allow anybody from any part of the globe to come
into America. When they do, they come in on our terms, for our benefit.
Let's ask ourselves: Does mass migration from Haiti benefit the
American people? The answer is obviously no. Sixty-five percent of
nonimmigrant Haitian-headed households are on welfare. Does that make
America stronger, more prosperous, or more wealthy in any way? Of
course, it doesn't.
{time} 1310
Yet, we are being asked to give them amnesty and make these
absolutely horrendous years of open borders effectively permanent.
Mr. Speaker, the central thesis of the last election cycle was the
American people rejecting mass migration. That is why they gave the
President the popular vote. That is why Republicans have a trifecta,
and we ought to listen to them.
The American people want their country back. The American people are
tired of sending their kids to school where an unlimited number of
children are speaking foreign languages or schools that are flooded
with fentanyl because of open borders.
Mr. Speaker, we want to live in America. That is why I reject this
bill, and I hope my colleagues will, as well.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley), who has been such a leader on bringing
this bill to the floor.
Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Speaker, once again, my colleagues across the aisle
prove that they have no idea who or what actually makes this country
great. It seems you don't know who the brilliant and effective
educators in our classrooms are, or the owners of the restaurants that
might provide your favorite meal, or even more, the healthcare
provider, the home healthcare provider that is taking care of your
aging loved one in a hospital or a nursing home.
I know firsthand how important our Haitian neighbors are to our
communities, to civic life, to culture, to workforce, and to our
economy.
During my mother's cancer battle, may she rest in peace and power, a
battle of CLL, leukemia, that she ultimately lost, as her only child
and her medical proxy in her final days, I was working daily to extend
her life and to center her dignity. She spent her final moments in a
hospital room in bed. The room was cold, but the Haitian nurses who
cared for her provided much-needed warmth and compassion, oiling her
scalp, braiding her hair, and going above and beyond to comfort my
mother. I am eternally grateful to those women for their kindness,
their competence, and their empathy.
I will not stand idly by while our Haitian neighbors are denigrated,
dehumanized, criticized, or forced to live in fear of deportation. The
unique care provided to my mother and millions of people cannot be
replaced by AI.
Haitian TPS holders are not the problem. Quite the contrary, they are
part of the solution. They are not our enemies. They do not exploit our
Nation. They enhance it.
Secretary Kennedy himself has said that we are in a caregiving
crisis. One in four of our long-term healthcare workers are Haitian,
and one in five of our healthcare workers are Haitian.
The caregiving crisis impacts families throughout America. Our
seniors need care to age with dignity and community. It is Haitian TPS
holders who disproportionately serve as caregivers and home health
aides, who during the pandemic, risked their lives to care for the sick
and the ailing.
Further, with the lack of affordable housing leading to an increase
in evictions and a decrease in homeownership, it is Haitian TPS holders
who are part of the solution as construction workers helping to build
our housing supply.
Republicans have selective amnesia or are simply in denial about who
and what actually makes this country great. They are the beneficiaries
of their contributions. Haitian TPS holders are not the problem. They
support our families, our economy, and our country.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentlewoman from Massachusetts.
Ms. PRESSLEY. They are our neighbors, our educators, our congregants,
people we work and worship with, and they are our friends. That is why
I support my bipartisan legislation to extend Haiti TPS, and I urge my
colleagues to vote ``yes.''
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Fine).
Mr. FINE. Mr. Speaker, I have heard now that having these Haitians in
our country is good for our community, will lead to people's deaths if
we send them home, and that we have selective amnesia.
Mr. Speaker, I will help with that amnesia problem by talking about
three people from my State of Florida.
[[Page H2944]]
In 2022, Terry and Brenda Aultman were riding their bikes home when a
Haitian in this country on TPS, which, by the way, is temporary, were
killed. Their necks were slashed by someone who never should have been
in this country. When do we care about their deaths?
Just a few weeks ago, Yasmin Easmin was murdered, again by a Haitian
here on TPS, who didn't even use a knife but a hammer to crush her
skull. When do we care about her?
This whole thing is a scam. It was created for people who were
protected because there was an earthquake 16 years ago. Now 350,000
people have been able to stay in our country for 16 years, the majority
of whom are on welfare and have created an entire generation of
birthright citizens who can't be sent home now because they have
children who are Americans.
Mr. Speaker, this is an effort to undermine our country with people
who have killed three people in my State. I did not come here to
protect Haitians. I came here to protect for the good of our country.
The only discharge petition I will support is the one that discharges
all of these people back to Haiti.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), a distinguished member of the
Appropriations Committee.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure to restore protections
for our Haitian-American neighbors, and I am grateful for Congresswoman
Pressley and Congresswoman Gillen's leadership on this issue.
Haiti is in collapse. That is not in doubt. Gangs control 90 percent
of the capital. Millions are internally displaced, and most of the
population needs emergency food and medicine.
The U.S. supports a peacekeeping force in Haiti, so it is hard to
argue that it is dangerous enough to send in the military, yet safe
enough to send civilians back to.
Haitian TPS recipients are vetted for any criminal history and came
here to flee the same violence at home. TPS holders are on work
permits, pay taxes, pay into Medicare and Social Security, and get
nothing in return.
It helps no one to take 200,000 people out of the workforce, while
taxpayers foot the bill for detaining and deporting people who haven't
committed a crime.
This is an economic disaster with the enormous taxpayer and moral
cost of deporting hardworking people into chaos when they pose no
threat.
Every dollar we spend to rip apart law-abiding families with legal
status--and I know that is a fact that my friends on the other side of
the aisle refuse to acknowledge because TPS is a legal status--every
dollar taken is a dollar not spent to go after real criminals.
I visited the Everglades detention camp last week, and the horrors I
saw strengthened my resolve. We can't stuff law-abiding people into
cages for months with no trial and then send them to unsafe conditions.
{time} 1320
This week, I was proud to lead an amicus brief with Ms. Pressley and
185 congressional Democrats to urge the Supreme Court to reject Trump's
illegal termination of TPS for Haitians.
My Haitian neighbors in Florida are an indispensable part of our
community, economy, and culture. It infuriates me that President Trump
shamelessly peddles lies about Haitians to promote racist, collective
punishment. Haitian Americans deserve better. We all deserve better
than an administration more concerned about hitting Stephen Miller's
ICE quotas than bringing down costs.
If we care about our seniors, our parents, our aunties, and our
grandmothers; if we care about the patients in hospitals and nursing
homes; and if we care about making sure that our economy is
strengthened by incredible Haitian workers who are part of the backbone
of it, then we will vote ``yes'' to save jobs in your community, ensure
that hospitals have nurses, ensure that elderly parents can access
care, and to stand up for our Nation's values.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).
Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, isn't it interesting that we are here
debating TPS for Haiti today? It is interesting because the t in TPS
stands for ``temporary.'' It has never been intended as a rolling,
multigenerational amnesty program. Yet, that is exactly what it has
become: an amnesty program.
In fact, during the 4 years of the Biden-Harris administration, this
tool was used to extend de facto amnesty to more than 1 million aliens
who entered this country without a visa. If this bill is passed, which
was originally declared by President Obama in 2010, it will be extended
yet again, this time through the end of the decade.
That is 20 years. That does not sound temporary.
Yet, it isn't just Haiti. Every Democrat administration has abused
TPS. There are currently 1.5 million aliens from a dozen countries
present in the United States under TPS designations, some of which
began decades ago.
Somalia's TPS was first extended during the administration of George
H.W. Bush in 1991, back when Paula Abdul and Bryan Adams topped the
Billboard Top 40 charts. It remains in place yet today, thanks to an
activist judge.
President Clinton gave TPS to Hondurans in 1999, when Microsoft had
just replaced General Electric as America's most valuable company and
gas was 92 cents a gallon. That designation lasted more than a quarter
century and was only terminated last year after a lengthy court battle.
President Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, granted TPS to
nationals of El Salvador in 2001, a full year before the BlackBerry
smartphone would hit store shelves. That designation also continues,
despite the fact that El Salvador's tourism ministry openly promotes
posh, all-inclusive, luxury resorts and boasts one of the lowest
homicide rates in our hemisphere. This is absurd.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from Wisconsin.
Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, TPS was never intended to be the Hotel
California that allows illegal aliens to enter any time but they may
never leave. It is time to put the t back in TPS and close this
permanent administrative amnesty loophole.
I ask for a ``no'' vote on this bill.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Meeks), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee.
Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of
Representative Gillen's bill to extend temporary protective status for
Haitians until 2029. In fact, to me, it is outrageous that it actually
took Representative Pressley's bipartisan discharge petition to force
this consequential vote.
It seems to me that the administration and the Speaker should have
acted, but they failed to. Today, we have a chance to make this right.
I thank my Republican colleagues who signed the motion to discharge
and worked in a bipartisan way to make this happen because the American
people recognize that our Haitian neighbors, whether they are from
Miami, whether they are from Boston, whether they are in Westchester,
New York, or whether they are in Queens, New York, are not strangers,
but they are integral parts of our communities, our churches, and our
families.
The American people recognize that the conditions in Haiti don't just
meet, but they surpass the threshold for TPS. We are talking about one
of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, where armed gangs
control 90 percent of the capital, a public health system that is
nearing collapse, a justice system which is almost nonexistent, and 1.4
million people who are internally displaced by fleeing from violence
and hunger.
You don't have to take my word for it. Look at the United States
Department of State's own travel advisory issued under this
administration. It says plainly to not travel to Haiti due to
kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited
healthcare.
We must do everything in our power to prevent further harm during
this humanitarian crisis, and we can start today. We can start by
passing this bill.
[[Page H2945]]
When I think about this country being established, it was people from
other parts of the world--in the beginning, especially from Europe--who
were trying to find a place to come to in order to get away from
dangerous conditions. That is the reason that the words at the base of
the Statue of Liberty read: ``Give me your tired, your poor, your
huddled masses yearning to breathe free.''
It is because America is the strongest when we stand for humanity
here at home.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman tells us that we have no choice as a
matter of humaneness but to accept these refugees into our
country who are fleeing danger. This is the only refuge
that they have.
That is simply not true. Bill Melugin of FOX News was at the border
in 2021 when 15,000 Haitians bum-rushed our border. He just tweeted out
his recollection of the events, and let me read them to you:
``Many of them later discarded their IDs and paperwork showing they
had been living and working in South American countries for years
(mostly Chile) as they prepared to make fraudulent asylum claims. Their
documents were all over the ground. We collected many of them.''
They are not seeking refuge in the United States because they had
already found refuge in other countries. They came here to exploit our
system, an exploitation that the Democrats insist on aiding, abetting,
and encouraging.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).
Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I would note the starting place here. In 2010, Haitians
were granted temporary status--temporary--after a severe earthquake
struck their country. Since then, thousands of foreign nationals from
Haiti have remained in the United States due to the renewal of this
flawed program. Over and over again, that which was supposed to be
temporary has become, effectively, permanent.
I have heard a lot of numbers flying around here talking about the
number of Haitians, 350,000, on TPS who will be taken out of
healthcare. It is a fraction of that number that is actually in
healthcare. Let's be honest.
My friend from Texas (Mr. Gill) noted earlier that 65 percent of the
population is on welfare.
Mr. Speaker, 65 percent of the population that came in here under a
temporary status is now living off of the taxpayer dollars of American
taxpayers because we continue this flawed program.
{time} 1330
Let's also talk about the reality that we have 91 percent of all
Haiti TPS holders enter the country illegally, deliberately violating
our immigration laws, and are now using TPS status to stay in the
United States. This is not what this program was designed to do.
Now, I heard one of my colleagues a minute ago talk about Haitians
fleeing danger. You know who else was fleeing danger? A mom, an
innocent mom in Florida, just last week, who was brutally bludgeoned to
death with a hammer outside a convenience store when her car was being
beat up by a Haitian here because of Biden and on TPS. That woman, that
mother, she was fleeing danger, the danger of a Haitian migrant here
using this flawed TPS program that we are now going to allow to be made
effectively permanent, undermining what the President is doing to try
to stop the abuse of this program to continue to flood the United
States with people that are living on the back of American taxpayers
and endanger the American people.
How many more Americans do we need to see get murdered? How many more
young girls on a subway in Charlotte? How many moms, like this mom in
Florida, need to get bludgeoned to death because we refuse to do our
job to ensure that the people that are coming to this country are
coming here to become a part of our society, to follow our laws, to be
a part of the melting pot that we so revere, rather than come here,
trying to turn America into something that it is not, and exploit our
goodwill to endanger the American people?
This is a flawed bill. It should not be supported by anyone in either
party.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Florida (Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick).
Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to talk about
the economic damage.
I support this bill because, at the end of the day, we have to
recognize that the Haitian people who actually have come to the United
States, they did go through a vigorous vetting process in order for
them to get the TPS status that they have.
Second of all, if we are looking at the economic damage that will
come to actually pushing out more than 350,000 TPS recipients, we know
that is going to be devastating to our market. There is a better way.
We should be contemplating not just extending TPS in this bill to
2029, but also figuring out how we can actually transition. While these
TPS recipients hold over 100,000 jobs in healthcare, which is actually
a fact, why don't we put together some kind of continuing education
program for Americans so they can replace them. What is the rush to
kick them out of the country and to leave all of these positions open
with no one to refill them?
Let's talk about more how we can protect and make sure that our
hospitality industry in South Florida, where we have more than a
thousand Haitian TPS workers who work in the airports in Miami, the
airports in Broward County, and also in hospitality, if we kick them
out willy-nilly, just everybody goes out in one day, how are we going
to sustain the economy in South Florida, in a State that everybody
loves to visit?
What I am asking for is cool minds to actually come together and
think about how we can actually have a transition process that will
protect the American people, help our economy, but not rushing toward
this mass exodus which is going to leave the American people in the
industry.
One of the things we have to realize also is that the American people
did ask for job skills training. They did ask for a transition. They
are not looking for chaos and just to push people out.
The truth is, I keep hearing this fact about 61 percent of Haitian
people are on welfare. My district is full of Haitian people. My family
is from Haiti. I don't know anybody who is on welfare. What we are
saying is that we are not arguing that it should be temporary. In fact,
the bill says until 2029. What we are arguing is that we sit together,
come together, and have a plan of transition.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentlewoman from Florida.
Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. What I would propose is that we actually
pass this bill and then come together and think of a transition where
we can now train Americans so they can get those jobs, give them a
green card until that time comes, and protect our economy.
I would say it one more time. If we just move forward like this, what
we would be doing is economic sabotage. Look at all of the Haitian
workers and what they uphold. Think of every elderly person who has a
nurse. Think of the vulnerable.
My heart hurts for anybody who was hurt. I do not like women being
abused. I think it is terrible when we have criminals, but let's have
cool minds come together and have a plan that benefits both sides and
this country.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close when the
gentlewoman concludes, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, temporary protected status was created to
ensure that our country is never forced to send someone back to harm's
way. So long as dangerous conditions exist in someone's country of
origin, TPS is meant to authorize them to remain here until that danger
has passed.
Our government recognizes the real and present dangers right now in
Haiti. Nonessential personnel have been evacuated from the country, and
the State Department continues to tell Americans not to travel to
Haiti. The government instructs people who must go to Haiti to
establish ``a proof of life protocol'' with their family members, to
[[Page H2946]]
make funeral plans, and draft a will before they travel to the country.
Yet that same government expects us to believe that it is safer for
Haitians to return to Haiti. They warn us about the imminent risk of
death that comes with traveling to Haiti but have no qualms of sending
350,000 people who have been living in this country and contributing to
their communities right here at home.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments later this month on
whether the administration's termination of TPS was lawful. With the
bill before us today, we can send a strong bipartisan message to the
court that this body recognizes the reality that Haiti remains deeply
unsafe, is in no way prepared to accept hundreds of thousands of people
returning, and that the TPS designation for Haiti should remain in
effect.
Now, Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot said on this floor today. I
haven't challenged every single thing, but what I want the American
people to know is there is a lot of misinformation being spread about
Haitian TPS holders, about TPS holders in general, and about
immigrants.
Someone earlier talked about how the American people don't want
immigrants in this country. That is absolutely not true. There is a
record-high support for legal pathways and a general belief that
immigration is good for this country. A record high 79 percent of
Americans now say that immigration is a good thing for the United
States, and only 30 percent of Americans actually want to see decreased
levels of demand. That is in part because this administration promised
to deport only the worst of the worst and then went out and kidnapped
and disappeared people, incarcerates children, and is committing
cruelty, including murdering U.S. citizens in the streets.
The reality is that Haitians are contributing to communities across
this country: 21 percent of Haitians in healthcare, 19 percent in
retail, 15 percent in education and social services, 15,000 Haitians in
agriculture, and 14.5 percent of Haitians are small business owners who
are generating over $1.5 billion in revenue.
We love to take all of the services that immigrants provide to this
country and then establish a level of cruelty toward those same
immigrants. That is not right.
Mr. Speaker, as one of the very few naturalized citizens to serve in
this country, it is difficult for me to constantly listen to the anti-
immigrant rhetoric that comes from the other side, the cruelty that
comes from this administration, when I myself know what this process
is. I have been through it.
The reality is immigrants are contributing. Haitian immigrants who
are here are working in their communities. It is why there is also a
record level of support for continuing Haitian TPS. The public polling
on TPS for Haitians: 90 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of
Independents, and almost half of Republicans support that.
I am grateful to the Republicans who came forward to sign the
discharge petition to bring this bill to the floor. I am grateful for
any Republicans who vote today for this bill because what the American
people want is to respect the contributions of immigrants across this
country who are helping to build our communities. That is what Haitians
are doing for us right now, and it is exactly why I hope all of my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle will support this bipartisan,
critically important bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
{time} 1340
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Again, the Democrats tell us that Haiti is a dangerous place, and I
have news for them: Most of the world's population lives in dangerous
places.
Do the Democrats seriously argue that Americans are obligated to
admit hundreds of millions of people living in those dangerous places
into the United States and then support them?
That appears to be their policy, and that certainly is what we have
seen from them whenever they have taken power. It is what happens when
governments become corrupt and refuse to protect innocent citizens from
violent predators who roam the streets.
This should come as no surprise to Americans living in blue cities
where leftist DAs refuse to prosecute dangerous criminals and prefer to
release dangerous, criminal illegal aliens back onto our streets rather
than turn them over to ICE to be removed from our country.
That is what comes when you allow hundreds of thousands of unvetted
illegal aliens into our country from violent and lawless societies like
Haiti.
Yes, many of these people are fleeing these conditions. Many others
are creating them. Why would you allow the latter into our country to
create the same violence and lawlessness?
That is why we have immigration laws: to separate out the good from
the bad. There are good and bad in every community, but we need to keep
the bad out. That is what the Democrats seek constantly to undermine.
This argument not only flies in the face of common sense, but it
makes a mockery of the entire temporary protected status provisions of
our immigration law. The law was designed to ensure that foreign
nationals legally in our country, who are prevented from returning home
because of temporary conditions, could remain here until those
conditions have abated.
That law was never envisioned to allow aliens fleeing those
conditions to seek permanent residence in America by illegally entering
our country. Yet, that is precisely what the Democrats are turning this
program into with this bill today.
If we don't enforce our immigration laws, we have no immigration
laws. If we have no immigration laws, we have no border. If we have no
border, then we have no country.
This bill makes a mockery of a program meant to provide temporary
refuge for legal residents. This temporary status for Haitians has now
gone on for 16 years. Ninety-one percent of these TPS holders are not
legal visitors temporarily stranded in our country. Rather, they are
illegal aliens who broke our laws specifically to benefit from TPS
status.
The vast majority entered illegally during the Biden era of open
borders. They overwhelmed local communities. Among this population came
violent criminals who we can only count as they commit heinous
atrocities like the one we saw in Fort Myers just 9 days ago.
When the President asked the Democrats to stand if they agreed that
the first duty of the American Government is to protect the American
people and not illegal aliens, not one of them stood. It shouldn't
surprise us that they now bring this bill as the first step toward
returning to the open-border policies of the Biden administration.
America, take heed. As this debate has once again made painfully
clear, if the Democrats return to power, their first order of business
will be to reopen our borders and allow the illegal mass migration into
this country to continue. We can expect temporary protected status to
become permanent protected status for every nationality the Democrats
favor on the thinnest of pretexts. They have repeatedly made their
intentions clear: to continue the ruinous open-border policies of the
Biden administration.
I, for one, reject that bleak, lawless, impoverished, and violent
future. I ask the House to reject it as well by rejecting this, the
first in a long line of Democrat open-border bills.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 965, the previous question is ordered on
the bill, as amended.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, this 15-
minute vote on passage of the bill will be followed by a 5-minute vote
on adoption of H. Res. 1156.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 224,
nays 204, not voting 3, as follows:
[[Page H2947]]
[Roll No. 120]
YEAS--224
Adams
Aguilar
Amo
Ansari
Auchincloss
Bacon
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bell
Bera
Beyer
Bishop
Bonamici
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Budzinski
Bynum
Carbajal
Carey
Carson
Carter (LA)
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Cisneros
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Conaway
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Craig
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davis (IL)
Davis (NC)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Deluzio
DeSaulnier
Dexter
Diaz-Balart
Dingell
Doggett
Elfreth
Escobar
Espaillat
Evans (PA)
Fields
Figures
Fitzpatrick
Fletcher
Foster
Foushee
Frankel, Lois
Friedman
Frost
Garamendi
Garcia (CA)
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Gillen
Gimenez
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzalez, V.
Goodlander
Gottheimer
Gray
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Himes
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jacobs
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (TX)
Kamlager-Dove
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy (NY)
Khanna
Kiley (CA)
Krishnamoorthi
Landsman
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latimer
Lawler
Lee (NV)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Levin
Liccardo
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Magaziner
Malliotakis
Mannion
Matsui
McBath
McBride
McClain Delaney
McClellan
McCollum
McCormick
McDonald Rivet
McGarvey
McGovern
McIver
Meeks
Menefee
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Min
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Morrison
Moskowitz
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Neal
Neguse
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Olszewski
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pelosi
Perez
Peters
Pettersen
Pingree
Pocan
Pou
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Randall
Raskin
Riley (NY)
Rivas
Ross
Ruiz
Ryan
Salazar
Salinas
Sanchez
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schneider
Scholten
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Simon
Smith (WA)
Sorensen
Soto
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Subramanyam
Suozzi
Sykes
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tlaib
Tokuda
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Tran
Turner (OH)
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Vindman
Walkinshaw
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Whitesides
Williams (GA)
Wilson (FL)
NAYS--204
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei (NV)
Arrington
Babin
Baird
Balderson
Barr
Barrett
Baumgartner
Bean (FL)
Begich
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Biggs (AZ)
Biggs (SC)
Bilirakis
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Bresnahan
Buchanan
Burchett
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Crane
Crank
Crawford
Crenshaw
Davidson
De La Cruz
DesJarlais
Donalds
Downing
Dunn (FL)
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Evans (CO)
Ezell
Fallon
Fedorchak
Feenstra
Fine
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fleischmann
Flood
Fong
Foxx
Franklin, Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Fuller
Garbarino
Gill (TX)
Goldman (TX)
Gooden
Gosar
Graves
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Hageman
Hamadeh (AZ)
Haridopolos
Harrigan
Harris (MD)
Harris (NC)
Harshbarger
Hern (OK)
Higgins (LA)
Hill (AR)
Hinson
Houchin
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Hurd (CO)
Issa
Jack
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kennedy (UT)
Kiggans (VA)
Kim
Knott
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
Langworthy
Latta
Lee (FL)
Letlow
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luna
Luttrell
Mackenzie
Maloy
Mann
Massie
Mast
McCaul
McClain
McClintock
McDowell
McGuire
Messmer
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Mills
Moolenaar
Moore (AL)
Moore (NC)
Moore (UT)
Moore (WV)
Moran
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Onder
Owens
Palmer
Patronis
Perry
Pfluger
Reschenthaler
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rouzer
Roy
Rulli
Rutherford
Scalise
Schmidt
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Sessions
Shreve
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Spartz
Stauber
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Strong
Stutzman
Taylor
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Epps
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Westerman
Wied
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
Zinke
NOT VOTING--3
Kean
Mace
Murphy
{time} 1421
Messrs. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, EMMER, SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida,
Ms. BOEBERT, Messrs. LUTTRELL and McCAUL changed their vote from
``yea'' to ``nay.''
Ms. KAPTUR, Messrs. DAVIS of Illinois, NEAL, and RUIZ changed their
vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________