Washington — The House is poised to deliver rare pushback on President Trump’s immigration policies in a vote Thursday on a bill to stop the administration from ending temporary deportation protections for Haitian nationals living in the U.S.
Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts spearheaded the effort to force a vote through a procedural tool known as a discharge petition. The tool — which has seen increasing success under the fractured House Republican majority — hit the 218-signature threshold it needed to bypass GOP leadership and bring the measure to the floor in late March.
Four Republicans — Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Lawler of New York and Don Bacon of Nebraska — joined all Democrats in backing the discharge petition. In a procedural vote Wednesday, it also gained the support of Reps. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Carlos Gimenez of Florida and Kevin Kiley of California, allowing the bill to proceed to the House floor.
The underlying bill, introduced last year by Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen of New York, would require the Department of Homeland Security to extend temporary protected status, or TPS, for Haitians until 2029. The bill was cosponsored by Lawler.
The bill mirrors one introduced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in 2019, when he was a Florida senator.
The vote comes as the Supreme Court is set to weigh in on the legal battle over the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back the temporary deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Haiti and Syria. A federal judge blocked the administration from revoking the legal protections for Haiti in February, one day before they were set to lapse, and an appeals court panel declined to freeze the lower court’s decision.
Congress created the temporary protected status system in 1990, which allows immigrants to temporarily live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation if DHS decides their home country is unsafe due to armed conflict, environmental disasters or other extraordinary circumstances.
Haiti’s designation has been extended several times since 2010, when a devastating earthquake left more than 300,000 people dead. It was most recently extended in August 2024 for 18 months by the Biden administration, which cited economic, security, political and health crises afflicting the Caribbean nation. More than 330,000 Haitian nationals held the status as of last year, not including people who also hold green cards.
The Trump administration has sought to wind down protections for Haiti and several other countries, requiring Haitian nationals to leave the country unless they qualify for some other lawful immigration status. In a termination notice in November, the administration said Haiti’s designation “is contrary to the U.S. national interest.”
“The United States cannot call for bold change on the ground while signaling doubt from afar. Our immigration policy must align with our foreign policy vision of a secure, sovereign, and self-reliant Haiti and not a country that Haitian citizens continue to leave in large numbers to seek opportunities in the United States,” the notice said, while also acknowledging “the current situation in Haiti is concerning.”
Lawmakers said the Trump administration’s decision puts lives at risk.
“The stakes could not be higher,” Pressley said Wednesday at a news conference, calling the Trump administration’s decision “a death sentence.”
Gillen said it was “cruel to expect Haitians to be forced to return to these deadly, dangerous conditions.”
Lawler argued that “sending people back to Haiti to unsafe conditions when they are currently here lawfully, is unjust and unwise.”
“The State Department itself says that Haiti is unsafe for Americans to travel to, which is in complete contradiction with the Department of Homeland Security saying that it is safe for Haitian immigrants to return to,” said Lawler, a Republican whose New York district is one of the most closely contested seats in the House.
Pressley, a co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, has for months been making the case to Republicans and some apprehensive Democrats to get them on board, according to a senior aide to the congresswoman. The aide said Pressley’s pitch has emphasized the negative economic impacts, particularly on the caregiving workforce, if more than 300,000 Haitians are forced to leave the U.S.
Pressley told CBS News on Wednesday she planned to continue having conversations with her Republican colleagues “up until the very minute” of the vote to try and secure their support. Some Republicans who did not sign the discharge petition had expressed interest, but weren’t willing to buck leadership and put their name on it, the aide said.
The legislation would still have to make it through the Senate, and it’s unclear how quickly the upper chamber would move on it. It also faces a veto from Mr. Trump, and a two-thirds majority is needed in both chambers to overcome his veto. The House was unwilling to override two vetoes earlier this year on legislation that passed unanimously.
