March 19, 2024

Warren, Markey, Pressley, Haiti Caucus and Colleagues Urge Biden Administration to Extend TPS and Halt Deportations Amid Escalating Violence in Haiti

“Returning Haitians now present in the United States would expose them to extreme danger and life-threatening conditions. TPS for Haitians and a cessation of deportation flights to Haiti are therefore urgently warranted.”

Approximately 731,000 Haitian-born people live in the United States 

Text of Letter (PDF) 

Washington, D.C. - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus,  Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), along with 19 Senate colleagues and over 45 House colleagues in urging the Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of State to immediately redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. TPS would allow Haitian nationals to remain in the United States until conditions improve in Haiti. The lawmakers also called on the Biden administration to pause all deportation flights to Haiti until conditions improve.  

Armed gangs control much of Haiti’s territory, including most of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, exposing those in Haiti to human rights abuses such as killings, kidnappings, and sexual violence. Since Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced his resignation after facing immense public pressure, the country has continued to experience instability exacerbated by armed gangs.   

Calling for a redesignation of TPS and a pause on all deportation flights, the lawmakers wrote, “Both of these steps  are necessary to ensure that the United States does not return Haitian nationals to a government incapable of protecting its citizens — often subjecting them to repression and violence — and gangs that brutally victimize residents and operate without restrictions…  “These actions will prevent further suffering and unnecessary loss of life,” they added. 

Cosigners in the Senate include Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai’i), Tim Kaine (D-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). 

Senator Warren has long advocated for a just and humane immigration system, consistently led efforts to protect the rights and well-being of TPS recipients, migrants, and asylum seekers, and supported the welfare of Haitian people:

  • In February 2024, Senator Warren and colleagues submitted an amendment to the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 that would provide $5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program (SSP) without requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ramp up its detention and deportation efforts. The same amendment was submitted to the Fiscal Year 2024 Spending Package in March 2024. 

  • In December 2023, Senator Warren, along with the entire Massachusetts delegation, wrote to FEMA raising concerns about a lack of federal funding for non-border states like Massachusetts experiencing a significant influx of migrants and requesting additional federal SSP funding for the Commonwealth.

  • In November 2023, Warren, Markey, Duckworth, Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ur Jaddou, commending DHS for the steps it has taken to expand access to employment authorization documents (EADs) for eligible noncitizens, and laying out several policy proposals to help address delays in issuing EADs. 

  • In September 2023, Senators Warren and Markey applauded the Biden administration’s redesignation of TPS for Venezuelan migrants.

  • In August 2023, Senators Warren and Markey and Representatives Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Bill Keating (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas and Director Jaddou, urging them to expedite the processing of EADs for individuals paroled into the United States, which would lessen the strain on available humanitarian and housing resources. 

  • In July 2023, Senators Warren and Markey joined Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and 24 of their colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to redesignate Venezuela and Nicaragua for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

  • In March 2023, Senators Warren, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Alex Padilla and 9 other senators submitted a public comment against the Biden administration’s proposed rule to restrict asylum at the southern border. The senators called on the Biden administration to withdraw the rule in its entirety.

  • In February 2023, sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Vice Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), urging them to increase funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program (SSP) to $5 billion. Funding would support entities that provide shelter and services to new arrivals, which is timely as Massachusetts works to meet migrants’ housing needs.

  • In January 2023, Senator Warren and nearly 70 other lawmakers sent a letter urging President Biden to reverse his Administration’s expansion of the inhumane Trump-era border policy known as Title 42 and to abandon the proposed asylum “transit ban” rule. The lawmakers also encouraged the President and his Administration to work with Congress to develop safe, humane, and orderly border policies that enforce our immigration laws and uphold the right to asylum under domestic and international law.

  • In September 2022, Senator Warren led members of the Massachusetts delegation in a letter to DHS and FEMA calling for funding from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to be allocated swiftly to organizations assisting newly arrived migrants in Massachusetts. 

  • In September 2022, Senator Warren released a statement condemning efforts to use asylum seekers as political pawns and committing to assisting communities in need. 

  • In September 2022, Senator Warren joined Senator Padilla to introduce legislation to expand a pathway to permanent residency for millions of long-term U.S. residents. The Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 would update the existing registry statute so that an immigrant may qualify for lawful permanent resident status if they have lived in the United States continuously for at least seven years before filing an application for lawful permanent resident status and are of good moral character.

  • In November 2021, Senator Warren stated her opposition to the continued use of Title 42 to expel asylum seekers and called for the Biden administration to rescind this policy.

  • In October 2021, Senator Warren joined Senator Menendez in criticizing the inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants and called on the Administration to support long-term stability in Haiti.

  • In April 2021, Senators Warren and Padilla, along with Representatives Castro and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), introduced the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act, which would provide a fair, secure, and accessible pathway to U.S. citizenship for over 5 million immigrant essential workers.

  • In February 2021, Senators Warren and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Representative Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) introduced the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, President Biden’s bold, inclusive, and humane framework for the future of the United States immigration system.  

###