WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ed Markey has vowed to keep fighting for Haitians living in the United States after a Republican colleague blocked his bill that would have extended the Caribbean country’s Temporary Protected Status designation.
The Massachusetts Democrat asked for unanimous consent to pass the legislation, but U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., spoke up to block the request and accuse Markey and others of lying about their intentions. Any senator can object to such a request for unanimous consent and block legislation from passing.
“The objection we just heard is exactly why this law to protect Haiti TPS is needed,” Markey said on the Senate floor on Wednesday, “and I’m incredibly disappointed in my Republican colleagues for turning their backs on the Haitian TPS community in this dire time. TPS represents America’s longstanding commitment to serve as a beacon of hope and refuge for the vulnerable. To honor and to protect Haitian TPS holders is a moral duty.”
Temporary Protected Status allows people to stay and work legally in the U.S. if their homelands become unsafe due to civil unrest or natural disasters. Temporary Protected Status for Haitians was first granted in 2010 after an earthquake devastated the country. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 25 that federal courts cannot review non-constitutional challenges to the termination of Temporary Protected Status.
The approximately 350,000 Haitians who are living in the United States with this status received some relief on Thursday, when a federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from ending their status on Friday, July 24. However, the court’s action pushes the extension until only Monday, July 27, when Temporary Protected Status holders will no longer have work permits or be protected from deportation.
Laurie Millman, executive director of the Center for New Americans, a nonprofit adult education and resource center serving immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in western Massachusetts, said she is trying to figure out who wins from the Trump administration’s attempt to expel people from the United States.
“I guess I would say it’s a sad situation, because Temporary Protected Status is a legal status that was … authorized by Congress, and it responds to crises in people’s home countries,” she said in a phone interview. “Our local community and economy thrive because of the influx of young families with working-age adults who fill positions in vital industries that have long remained vacant.”
On the Senate floor, Markey said Temporary Protected Status spares people from having to return to dangerous and life-threatening conditions, and referred to the Supreme Court’s ruling as an outrage and a travesty. He also said it is hypocritical to require Haitians to return to Haiti when the U.S. Department of State has advised Americans to avoid visiting there due to rampant gang violence, kidnappings, civil unrest and severe health care shortages. The U.S. Department of State has Haiti in its “Level 4: Do Not Travel” category.
“And for years Donald Trump has demonized and attacked Haitian TPS holders. Trump has spewed racist, cruel lies about Haitians,” Markey said. “We know that Trump does not want to ‘make America great again.’ Trump wants to make America hate again. That’s what these policies represent — to make America white again.”
But Schmitt, the senator from Missouri, rose in opposition to Markey’s request for unanimous consent.
“Washington has invented a new definition of ‘temporary.’ It means ‘permanent,'” he said. “Haitian TPS was supposed to be just 18 months when it began in 2010. Sixteen years later, 350,000 Haitians are still here. Today, after the Supreme Court cleared the way for President Trump to end TPS and send them home, Democrats are trying to change the law to keep the 350,000 Haitians here permanently. Not on my watch.”
Schmitt accused Democrats of trying to keep Haitians in the United States under the guise of compassion as a way to “cash in on a new voter base.” He also said the influx of Haitians has flooded American cities with cheap foreign labor that undercuts native-born workers.
“A child born when Haitian TPS [began] is nearly old enough to vote or sponsor their family for green cards now. That’s how long Washington has been calling this program temporary for the Haitians who are here,” he said. “TPS was created for emergencies. Democrats turned it into a one-way racket toward permanent mass migration.”
He also said America is “not a global refugee camp.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., who partnered with Markey to fight for passage of the legislation, rose to thank him for his leadership and compassion on the issue. She also noted that U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who helped get the legislation passed in the House of Representatives, was present in the Senate chamber for part of the discussion.
Blunt Rochester also expressed disappointment in Schmitt’s objection, saying the Trump administration’s policy decision is driven by cruelty and xenophobia. She shared stories of Haitian immigrants and how they have contributed to American society.
“As I said before, Delaware is a state of neighbors,” she said. “And we are losing neighbors.”
Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., echoed his Democratic colleagues’ disappointment over the Republican objection to the request for unanimous consent.
“As my colleagues have said … TPS was established decades ago with bipartisan support,” he said, “because Congress understood then a very basic truth — when people cannot safely return to their countries of origin, we do not put their lives at risk by forcing them to go back.”
