Haitian, State & City Leaders Call on President Trump to Protect TPS

Haitian, state, and city lawmakers gathered outside U.N. headquarters in New York City on Friday to demand President Trump reverse his decision on ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

"We cannot allow families to be separated because a parent who is working and paying taxes here legally with TPS is told our country no longer wants you here," said Senator David Carlucci, who represents one of the country's largest Haitian populations in Spring Valley.

TPS allows more than 300,000 immigrants to live and work in the U.S. legally, while their home countries recover from disaster or war.

Nearly 60,000 people in the U.S. from Haiti are TPS recipients who could face deportation when the program ends on July 22, 2019. 

"TPS offers people fleeing devastated or war torn countries a path towards legal citizenship and a start to a better life. Now we are going to send them back? Haiti is still devastated financially," said Senator Carlucci.
"President Trump's rash decision takes a working program like TPS and throws it in the trash. In Spring Valley where more than 20 percent of the population is Haitian we will lose economic vitality and a vibrant culture," said Spring Valley Trustee Eudson Francois. 

"We believe the President's decision was rash and with little thought for our country which is still recovering from riots and the devastating earthquake of 2010. We need New York leaders to hear our voice and let the President know our country will welcome our citizens, but an influx of 60,000 people will not help our country, it will only hurt us," said Senator Jacques Sauveur Jean of Haiti.

Senator Jean and fellow Haitian leaders agreed the setbacks Haiti continues to experience stem from financial hardships and recovering from the devastating effects of the 2010 Earthquake, which killed more than 220,000 people and displaced about 1.5 million.