Immigrant rights advocates and community leaders rallied nationwide and in Miami on Tuesday afternoon to support legislative efforts in Congress to extend Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS, for Haitians.
" This is to uplift the issue of TPS recipients also to encourage in all of those states where senators have not yet sponsored Senate Bill 4814 that extends TPS for Haiti, to make sure that we get the commitment, that they understand the urgency and commit to voting yes on this," said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
READ MORE: With TPS ending, Haitian community leaders want Congress to help Haitian migrants avoid deportation
S. 4814 would reinstate the residency status for Haitians as well provide permanent paths for U.S. citizenship. The legislation has stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Tuesday's rally was held at the Little Haiti Cultural Center as part of a National Day of Action for TPS holders. Other rallies were being held in Boston, 'Chicago, San Diego and Washington, D.C.
Work permits for hundreds of thousands of Haitian TPS recipients expire Friday.
TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters, civil strife and other instability. It allows people already in the country to stay with work permits in increments of up to 18 months, but it does not provide a path to citizenship.
Haitians were first granted TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and extended them multiple times amid ongoing gang violence that has displaced more than a million people, according to court documents.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision last month, allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria through TPS, exposing hundreds of thousands of immigrants to potential deportation.
The decision immediately affected about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. They will lose TPS by the end of the month.
READ MORE: ‘Humanitarian crisis’ looming for Haitian immigrants after Supreme Court decision to end TPS: report
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