The Trump administration has announced that Temporary Protected Status to Haitians will end after July 2019. The administration cannot continue granting temporary status indefinitely to Haitians. This shifts temporary to permanent status and makes a mockery of the temporary program. But with over 50,000 Haitians residing in the United States, and conditions in Haiti unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future, Congress should pass legislation to allow law-abiding Haitians to remain in America.
After a major earthquake devastated Haiti back in 2010, the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration granted the Haitians Temporary Protected Status. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, TPS can be designated to a foreign country “due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.” Temporary conditions include conflict, natural disasters, and other extraordinary conditions. In order to receive TPS, a foreign national must already be present in the United States, but once granted, the national cannot be deported unless TPS ends.
Since 2010, the Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in America has been extended several times. However, the Department of Homeland Security believes that the conditions in Haiti have improved sufficiently since the earthquake, removing the need to extend TPS for Haitian nationals once again.
Despite the Department of Homeland Security’s claims, Haiti has hardly improved since 2010. Although the country has been rebuilding since the earthquake, Category 4 Hurricane Matthew hit the country last fall, impeding progress. Haiti has an outbreak of cholera, which has killed nearly 10,000 people, as well as the Zika and Chikungunya viruses. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a quarter of its population making less than $1.23 a day.
Reconstruction has also been slowed by political corruption. Millions of relief funds have been stolen under Haiti’s current president, who is resisting calls to step down.
Congress should act in order to avoid deporting productive workers who have assimilated into American culture and have helped boost the economy. According to the Center for Migration Studies, 81 percent of Haitian nationals over the age of 16 participate in the labor force. Thirty percent of Haitians have mortgages. A large share work in the restaurant industry, and others work in industries including construction and education.
Congressmen in Florida have spoken out against the Trump administration’s decision. Approximately 60 percent of Haitian nationals live in Florida, with about 24,000 living in the Miami and Palm Beach areas. If all these people were expelled, Florida’s economy could be disproportionately affected by the large decrease in workers.
Congress should consider that nearly 27,000 U.S.-born children have Haitian-born parents. These children would either be left without one or both parents or be forced to leave America.
Even if all problems in Haiti were solved, which they are not, America should be open to law-abiding, productive, immigrants. The unemployment rate is close to 4 percent, and economic growth requires more workers. Congress should work to enact legislation that would create a process for Haitians—and other law-abiding foreign nationals on TPS—to remain in the country permanently.
Emily Top is a research associate at Economics21.
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