A bipartisan congressional delegation visiting Haiti this week found conditions on the ground too dangerous to justify ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitians living in the United States, according to Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., who called the situation "pretty horrific" after touring gang-ravaged Port-au-Prince.
"This is not the right time to be sending people back to Haiti," Bera told the Miami Herald. "You're sending folks into a chaotic situation." He added that TPS holders deported to Haiti "are going to be ripe targets for kidnapping as well" and said, "This would be a disaster to send folks back right now."
Bera joined House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., on the first congressional visit to Haiti in seven years, as The Miami Herald reports.
The delegation met with interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who said the northern city of Cap-Haïtien could not absorb additional deportees despite suggestions from U.S. officials that returns could be redirected there. Haitian security officials also warned lawmakers that gangs continue expanding their control while the recently established multinational Gang Suppression Force is still building operational capacity.
The visit coincided with continuing violence across Haiti. The United Nations reported last week more than 5,500 incidents of gender-based violence during the first half of the year, nearly 70% involving rape, as gang attacks displaced growing numbers of women and children. More than 2,000 people have been killed this year, while nearly 1.5 million remain internally displaced.
The trip also came amid ongoing uncertainty over TPS. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with ending Haiti's TPS designation, though litigation over the policy continues and confusion remains over implementation and work authorization for current beneficiaries.
The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that TPS for Haiti ended last week and has encouraged affected migrants to self-deport if they lack another legal basis to remain in the country.
Bera said he plans to urge Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to support extending TPS through 2029, arguing Haiti needs time to hold elections, strengthen its security forces and stabilize before large-scale returns can be considered.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, similarly criticized plans to deport Haitian TPS holders last week, saying returning them to Haiti would mean sending people "back to hell" while warning the move would also hurt communities that rely on Haitian workers.
