On the recordNovember 6, 2017
As a senior member of the House Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee, I rise today to express my strong objection to the announced intention by the Trump Administration not to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, Honduras, and El Salvador. On May 24, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) re- designated Haiti for 6 months of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), rather than the full 18 months requested by the Government of Haiti, Haiti experts in the United States, and the Congressional Black Caucus, among others. DHS' decision did not reflect the realities on the ground in Haiti, which include Haiti's food scarcity crisis, cholera epidemic, and the ongoing challenges posed by the unprecedented 2010 earthquake. In a letter sent this past Friday, November 3, 2017, the Congressional Black Caucus urged DHS, once again, to fully extend Haiti's TPS designation for 18 months by the November 23, 2017 deadline in light of the aforementioned conditions in Haiti, as well as the exarcerbated damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. In a report published in October 2017, the highly regarded Global Justice Clinic concluded that conditions justifying Haiti's qualification for TPS in 2011 remain as acute today as they were then. The study also found that 40,000 Haitians uprooted by the 2010 earthquake are officially displaced and that many more likely remain unofficially displaced in dangerously inadequate shelters.…
