GOP Rep Demands Open-Ended Deportation Shield For 350,000 Haitians

Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler called on the Trump administration Thursday to prevent the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian healthcare workers after the Supreme Court cleared the way for ending TPS.

Lawler stressed in an X post that the migrant workers should retain their protected status from deportation due to humanitarian issues in their native Haiti and their community’s contribution to the healthcare system. The GOP lawmaker’s comments followed the Supreme Court’s Thursday ruling that federal courts cannot review the executive branch’s decision to end TPS.

“While I have never disputed the ability of the President to end [TPS], I strongly disagree with ending Haitian TPS at this time,” the congressman wrote in his Thursday post. “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.”

The New York Republican added that the “situation on the ground” in the Caribbean country is a “humanitarian and political disaster and continues to warrant an extension” of the deportation shield.

“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,” his post continued. “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.”

“[O]f the 350,000+ lawful Haitian TPS holders, roughly 1/3rd work in our healthcare system,” Lawler emphasized. “Immediately shutting off TPS will create a crisis in our hospitals, nursing homes, and in the I/DD [Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities] community.”

Lawler ended his post calling on senators to adopt legislation he introduced alongside Democratic New York Rep. Laura Gillen to extend TPS for Haitians temporarily.

The Republican congressman is a co-sponsor of the DIGNIDAD Act, a bill that seeks to protect certain groups of illegal immigrant groups from deportation.

Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde told The Daily Caller, “Shielding TPS-holding Haitian illegals is an unthinkable betrayal of the American people. These are some of the very same Republicans pushing for mass amnesty under the so-called DIGNIDAD Act.”

“Our House Republican Conference must be united in delivering an America First immigration agenda — which includes rejecting safe havens for illegal aliens, whether through a Democrat discharge petition or a bill named in a foreign language,” Clyde continued.

Haitians were first granted TPS by the Obama administration in 2010 after a destructive earthquake caused mass displacement of the country’s population.

Lawler is one of just a handful of Republicans to represent House seats former Vice President Kamala Harris carried in the 2024 presidential election. The moderate GOP lawmaker is facing a tough reelection bid against Democrat Cait Conley in November.