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TPS Protesters March On Mar-a-Lago

Hundreds of Florida hospitality workers marched to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach Tuesday, just hours after the Department of Homeland Security announced the end of temporary protected status for some 50,000 Haitians.

They want President Trump to create a path for people on TPS to stay in the country.

Myrtha Abraham’s home in Haiti was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. She’s been living in Hollywood, Fla. for seven years under TPS. She works as a housekeeper at the Diplomat Hotel and said her American daughter is doing well in school here.

“We are hardworking families,” said Abraham. “Some of us have been in this country for 26 years. We work, we have house, we have a car, we pay bills, we pay taxes. Our kids go to school. I don’t want to deport, to go back to the country. Some kids don’t even know what the country looks like.”

Abraham says she sends money to her mom who is living in a tent in Haiti.  Her house was destroyed last year by Hurricane Matthew.

Credit Peter Haden / WLRN
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Three local chapters of the hospitality union Unite Here came together for the march to Mar-a-Lago — one from Miami and two from Orlando.

Three local chapters of the hospitality union Unite Here came together for the march, one from Miami and two from Orlando. Union members work as hotel housekeepers, food service workers and airline food caterers.

“We represent tens of thousands of workers who are on TPS,” said union spokesperson Rachel Gumpert. “We’re out here today to take it to Donald Trump — as he’s vacationing with his family, celebrating the holidays at Mar-a-Lago — to let him know that we will not stand silently as he breaks apart 50,000 Haitian-American families.”

Gumpert says the union is going to lobby Congress to find a permanent solution for those with temporary status — one that doesn’t end in deportation.

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