Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status

Floor Speech

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Ms. GILLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bipartisan bill, H.R. 1689, to extend TPS for Haitians.

I thank all of my colleagues who voted to bring this bill to a vote today--Democrat, Republican, and Independent. I thank Representative Pressley, co-chair of the Haiti Caucus, for her leadership on the discharge petition that helped make this vote possible. I am grateful for our partnership in the fight to protect our Haitian neighbors.

My district in Nassau County is home to one of the largest Haitian populations in the country. We are incredibly proud of that. Haitian Long Islanders are part of the very fabric of our community. They work in critical sectors like healthcare, education, caregiving, and supporting our elderly, and they work in our local hospitals. Many have built thriving businesses and have enriched our faith community.

Before I came to Congress, I made a promise to the Haitian community in my district that I would use my voice to work with anyone from any party to help protect this community and their existing legal status here in the United States.

Let's be very clear. These are people who came in through the front door legally and are paying taxes and contributing to our community. Removing these folks would not just be a humanitarian catastrophe. It would hurt our economy.

As soon as I got to Congress, the first bill I introduced was this bipartisan bill to extend TPS for Haiti. I felt that saving these people from imminent danger should not be partisan, and it was important to get support from the other side of the aisle. I was thrilled that my Republican colleague, Representative Mike Lawler, joined and was an original cosponsor of this bill. This is how Congress should be working, both sides working together.

For more than a year, we have been pushing back against the administration and trying to do what is right and reverse this cruel, misguided decision to force Haitians to return to Haiti when they have come here lawfully.

The suggestion that the situation has improved in Haiti is belied by the U.S. Department of State. The Department of State website explains it is too dangerous for American citizens to travel to Haiti because of kidnapping, rampant crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited healthcare. How then could we say it is perfectly safe to force Haitians to go back there and that everything is okay?

Armed gangs control 90 percent of the capital. More than 1.4 million innocent civilians, half of them children, have been forced from their homes. It is cruel to expect Haitians to be forced to return to these deadly conditions. I have spoken to many Haitian families who desperately want to see peace return to their country and would like to go home once it is safe to do so.

I held a roundtable in my district and spoke to people. One speaker recently traveled to Haiti and said she could not even go to Port-au- Prince because it is so overrun by gangs. She shared that there is only one small part of Haiti that is safe for people to go to, but there is no housing and no promise of securing work. It is truly a dire situation.

I met a young man, a TPS recipient, who has been in the United States for a number of years. He has worked hard and graduated from college. Now, he is giving back to his community. He is helping those who could face the same fate as him if he loses this protection. He is dedicated to selflessly using the opportunity that he has been given to come here and using his voice to give back to his community. He encapsulates the heart of the Haitian community and the true humanity of the people we are trying to protect.

I am proud that, with the partnership of my Democratic and Republican colleagues, we advance this discharge petition today and are voting on my legislation. It shows the bipartisan nature of this issue. It affects communities, red and blue.

I look forward to passing the very first bill that I introduced into Congress and delivering on the promise I made to my district. This is an important milestone for our hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying Haitian friends and neighbors across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this legislation to protect their lives. I also say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that I ran on immigration reform. I am 1 of 10 original Democratic cosponsors, along with 10 Republican cosponsors, of the Dignity Act, which would transform our immigration system, secure our border, and create a legal pathway to citizenship. I urge my colleagues to take up immigration reform.

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