Advocates march on Sen. Moody’s Office in Palm Beach County, demanding 3-year Haitian TPS extension

About two dozen immigrant rights advocates and faith leaders Tuesday rallied outside of Republican Sen. Ashley Moody’s office in Palm Beach Gardens, urging her to support Senate Bill S. 4814 extending Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitians for three more years.

The demonstration is part of a nationwide series of actions hosted by a network of advocacy organizations during BAJI’s Protect Black Migrants Week of Action.

Leaders are pushing to protect the immigrant workers who keep local healthcare and service industries running, said Paul Christian Namphy, who leads the nonprofit  Family Action Network Movement in Miami.

"They have to act, and their failure to act is complicit with not only the destruction of our community, the separation of our families, the cruel, cruel specter of sending people back to a place where their life will be in danger," Namphy told WLRN.

"But also it's a stab in the back of the entire Florida economy."

Senate Bill 4814, if passed, would extend protections for Haitian nationals who face a forced return amid worsening gang violence, political turbulence, and economic destruction in Haiti. The legislation is stalled in the U.S. Senate.

The rally took place across the street from Moody's Palm Beach Gardens office at 4822 Northlake Boulevard.

The demonstration comes in the wake of the Trump administration winning a summer court battle to end TPS for roughly 350,000 Haitians, leaving them without permission to live and work in the U.S.

The decision heavily impacts Florida, which is home to 158,000 TPS recipients — the vast majority residing in South Florida.

Activists and human rights organizations warn that Haiti, particularly its capital Port Au Prince, is currently far too dangerous and lacks the resources to absorb deported individuals into an country of nearly 12 million people.

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Politically-backed gangs, often tied to corrupt politicians and financial sponsors, now control roughly 70% of Haiti's capital, as well as large portions of the central region.

According to the U.N., surging political violence has displaced a record 1.5 million people nationwide and claimed more than 3,000 lives in just the first six months of this year, leaving more than half of the population in need of humanitarian assistance amidst deepening poverty and hunger,

Namphy called out state leadership directly, criticizing federal lawmakers representing Florida for failing to champion protective legislation while federal work authorizations and driving privileges are stripped away.

Namphy said senators "should have been the first to co-sponsor or sponsor S-4814" and called out a "deafening silence" while the [TRUMP] "administration is canceling work authorizations, is deporting our community members, is taking people's driving privilege away."

While Sen. Moody and fellow Republican Sen. Rick Scott have expressed sympathy for Haitian TPS holders, neither has proposed concrete policy changes.

In late July, Moody told Miami's WPLG Local 10 that she discussed reviewing TPS status on a "case-by-case basis" with Trump administration officials.

The lack of action is what sparked the rally, which took place during a critical stretch ahead of next week's election, where Moody's opponent — Democrat Angie Nixon — is challenging her the U.S. Senate seat.

Demonstrators noted that Nixon has publicly pledged to support Senate Bill S. 4814 upon taking office.

Organizers, who are supporting Nixon, framed the demonstration as an essential act of civic accountability.

"We believe that it is our duty to do everything that we can to inform the voters about the stakes and to inform our community members about how they can best protect themselves," Namphy said.