New York Rep. Mike Lawler (R) is urging the Trump administration to prevent the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian healthcare workers. His call follows the Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration may terminate TPS for Haitians.
“While I have never disputed the ability of the President to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS), I strongly disagree with ending Haitian TPS at this time,” he wrote on X. “First, the situation on the ground in Haiti is a humanitarian and political disaster and continues to warrant an extension. The State Department has a level 4 travel advisory telling all Americans to evacuate and not travel there precisely because the gangs are in charge of the country, engaged in gun and drug trafficking, and kidnapping innocent Haitians. We want to root it out and allow for a stable government to be establish with a free a fair election, creating the conditions for a safe return for Haitians.”
He explained that of the “350,000+ lawful Haitian TPS holders,” it is estimated that a third of them work in the healthcare industry. Ending TPS for this group, Lawler explained, will “create a crisis in our hospitals, nursing homes, and in the I/DD community.”
“I’m asking the administration to allow for an orderly process by which Haitian TPS holders can maintain their work authorization while their immigration cases are adjudicated over the next six months, if the revocation of TPS moves forward,” he wrote.
Lawler’s demand comes as he has pushed for the adoption of a legal framework that would allow some noncitizens to work and pay taxes.
“If you’ve been here more than five years — so not the people who came under Joe Biden’s disastrous administration, but the people who have been in this country 5, 10, 15, 20 years, whose children and grandchildren may in fact be American citizens — they would qualify if they haven’t committed a crime, they paid back taxes, they pay a fine, they have a job, and they do not collect government benefits,” Lawler explained in April. “They would qualify for legal status, not citizenship; they would be precluded from citizenship.”
