A significant number of U.S. Congress members, led by Brooklyn Democratic Representative Yvette D. Clarke, are urging the Trump administration to reconsider its decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.
Alongside Representative Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Clarke sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, denouncing the termination of TPS as an unjustified and dangerous decision.
In this letter, signed by 62 members of the House of Representatives and 23 senators, the lawmakers highlight that the notice published in the Federal Register on July 1, 2024, justified extending TPS for Haiti due to “severe insecurity, gang violence, socio-economic collapse, and environmental disasters.” However, the Trump administration published a new notice in February 2025 canceling this extension, claiming that there was no longer sufficient justification.
“This decision ignores overwhelming evidence that Haiti remains a dangerous place for any return,” the letter states, as cited by Caribbean Life.
The lawmakers remind the Trump administration that the conditions that led the Biden administration to extend TPS for Haitians still persist. In fact, the situation has worsened, with more than 90% of Port-au-Prince under the control of armed groups responsible for kidnappings, sexual violence, and arbitrary killings.
Representative of New York’s 9th District, Yvette D. Clarke is one of the most ardent defenders of Haitian rights in Congress. She is also the co-founder of the Haitian Caucus in Congress, which she established with Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley. The decision to create the caucus was originally an idea of former Michigan Representative Andy Levin.
Yvette Clarke is also a senior member of the Committee on Homeland Security. She serves as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, the largest group of lawmakers in the U.S. Congress.
According to a United Nations report, more than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti in 2024, an increase of over 1,000 victims compared to the previous year. Nearly half of Haiti’s population—5.5 million people—requires urgent humanitarian aid, with 1.6 million suffering from catastrophic food insecurity. Gang violence has also forced more than one million people to flee their homes, Caribbean Life reports.
The lawmakers criticize the termination of TPS for Haiti as a policy that is “poorly conceived and contrary to U.S. interests.” They recall that during his 2024 election campaign, Donald Trump targeted Haitian TPS beneficiaries, rhetoric they say echoes his 2017 attempt to terminate the status—a decision later blocked by the courts for violating administrative law.
The lawmakers are therefore urging the Trump administration to extend and redesignate TPS for Haiti for the maximum duration of 18 months, as permitted by law. They argue that refusing to do so would constitute a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which requires such decisions to be based on objective data and humanitarian considerations. However, they acknowledge that such an extension is unlikely, given the Trump administration’s stance on Haitian immigrants, a community the president has consistently attacked.
Furthermore, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has strongly condemned the Trump administration’s sudden suspension of U.S. foreign aid, including assistance to Haiti. He called the decision a “grave strategic mistake that harms the Haitian people, U.S.-Haiti relations, and American interests in the region,” Caribbean Life reports.
Schumer emphasized that this aid reduction would further weaken Haiti, a country already struggling with the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and persistent political instability. He urged the government to immediately restore the funds allocated by USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) to support healthcare initiatives, food assistance, and security efforts in the country.
“The more we help stabilize Haiti, the less Haitians will be forced to flee their country in search of refuge elsewhere,” Schumer told Caribbean Life.
