Senators Markey & Warren Urge TPS Extension & Redesignation For Haiti as Civil Unrest Forces Thousands To Leave Island nation

In full transparency, the following is a media release from Sen. Ed Markey, who was elected by voters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to serve the state in Washington DC in the US Senate. He is a Democrat. (stock photo)

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WASHINGTON DC – Today, October 26, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led 15 of his colleagues in urging the Biden administration to immediately extend and redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, which would authorize Haitian nationals in the United States to remain in the country until conditions improve in Haiti.

The island nation continues to face compounding crises — escalating gang violence, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, reports of cholera deaths for the first time in three years, and an inability to get humanitarian assistance to more than five million Haitians — that have forced thousands of Haitians to leave their home in growing numbers. The current TPS designation for Haiti is set to expire in February 2023.

“A redesignation of TPS will allow newly arrived Haitians in the United States to lawfully support themselves and the communities that have welcomed them,” said Senator Markey. “Denying access to TPS to recent arrivals will neither serve as an effective deterrent to future border crossings, given Haitians’ desperation to flee dire conditions, nor cause them to leave the United States voluntarily in light of the continuing extraordinary conditions preventing their safe return home. It will simply ensure that Haitians will live in poverty and at risk of removal in the United States.”

The Senators wrote in their letter, “In light of the worsening conditions in Haiti, including prolific gang violence, widespread civil and political unrest since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and the inability of average Haitians to obtain gasoline, food, water, health care, and other basic necessities, extending and redesignating Haiti’s TPS status is urgently warranted.”

Joining Senator Markey in signing the letter were Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).  

Read the letter here.

Read the release in Haitian Creole.