Members of the congressional Haiti and Black caucuses announced Thursday that they are pursuing a petition to attempt to force a House vote aimed at protecting hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States from losing their temporary immigration protections.

The effort is being led by New York Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who joined other members of Congress at a press conference in Washington calling for urgent relief for Haitians at risk of losing Temporary Protected Status and being deported to a country engulfed by violence and a humanitarian crisis.

“This is a necessary step to protect people who have lived here legally for years. It’s sound policy,” said Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, whose Florida district includes Orlando. “TPS holders play a critical role in our nation’s economy and in the culture of our country, and this is one of the tools that we have members of Congress that we can use to force a vote.”

More than 350,000 Haitians face the end of their TPS benefit after the Trump administration announced an end to Haiti’s designation as of Feb. 3. While multiple lawsuits are challenging the decision in federal court — and at least one judge has indicated she plans to rule on Feb. 2 — the looming deadline has triggered fear and uncertainty in Haitian communities nationwide.

Armed gangs control most of Haiti’s capital and all major roads connecting Port-au-Prince to the rest of the country. More than 1.4 million Haitians have been internally displaced from their homes, many living in soiled encampments, while more than six million are in need of humanitarian assistance. The United Nations said this week that more than 8,100 Haitians were killed last year, noting that the figure is likely an undercount due to the lack of access into gang-controlled territories.

“To send vulnerable families back to a country that is plagued with violence and a horrific humanitarian crisis is unconscionable. It is shameful, and again, it is dangerous,” Pressley said. “We know that Haitian nationals here in the United States have added such value to our communities, doing work that so many Americans would see as beneath them. They continue to undergird and underpin and support those in our communities that need the help, whether it is in health care, whether it is in transportation, whether it is those who have become entrepreneurs and have done great things to strengthen our economy.”

The effort to end TPS “is really a cruelty that this administration is leveling against those who have come to our shores, seeking refuge, seeking support, seeking protection,” she added.

Pressley and her fellow lawmakers were joined by immigration and Haitian advocates, representatives of healthcare labor unions, domestic workers and others whose businesses rely on Haitians and other TPS holders facing the loss of their status.

All are essential contributors in the U.S. economy, filling labor gaps in healthcare, construction, hospitality and education, said Arnoldo Diaz, the co-coordinator of the National TPS Alliance. Diaz said that in 2021, TSP beneficiaries paid $1.3 billion in federal taxes and a billion dollars in state and local taxes, and had a combined purchasing power of $8 billion.

“Yet the current administration persists in terminating TPS, threatening over 1.5 million TPS holders with deportation and stripping protections from long term contributors,” he said. “We see devastating consequences, deportations, heartbreaking deaths and communities shattered.”

With communities across the U.S. at risk of losing essential workers, Diaz said “Congress must act now to protect TPS families and provid” a permanent solution.

“Our lives are not temporary. We are parents, workers and caregivers who built our lives here. We urge everyone to work together, to look for a legislative solution,” he said. “Protect our families, our communities and the economy that relies on us.”

In South Florida — home to the largest Haitian and Haitian American population in the country — the potential loss of legal status has caused widespread fear. A mother of U.S.-born children, including a 3-year-old son with autism, told the Miami Herald on Thursday that returning to Haiti would put her family in grave danger.

“Gangs have taken over all the roads,” said the mother, 44, who asked to be identified just by her first names, Marie Josue, and who works as a janitor at a local university. She fled to the U.S. legally, she said, after she could no longer live under the control of gangs in Carrefour, a Port-au-Prince suburb where there is no police presence and gangs control all movement. “There are a lot of problems, a lot of bandits.”

“I don’t know what I am going to do,” she said. “Returning to Haiti is very difficult. We would not be able to live, and my child wouldn’t be able to get the treatment he needs.”

Representatives of the Immigration Coalition, Haitian Bridge Alliance, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and others also joined Thursday’s press conference. They all warned that ending TPS would have severe consequences for hospitals, nursing homes and senior care.

“Let’s take a look at what February 4 would look like after if the proposed extension doesn’t happen,” said Katia Guillaume, vice president of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers. “What would happen to our hospitals? Cancellations of important surgeries, clients not able to get the valued care that they need from their personal care assistance. Residents in nursing homes would not be waking up to their favorite [nursing assistants.] All of this because of the administration has not done the due diligence to just verify the situation in Haiti.

“We’re asking this administration to please consider, find a way to help this valuable population, this valuable group of immigrants that have been lawfully here, been valuable service to us in the healthcare community,” she said. “ This loss, if it does happen, would be a devastation to our healthcare system.”

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