President Biden, as you visit Tampa, please consider extending TPS status to U.S. Haitians | Opinion

The Biden Administration needs to extend and re-designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians in South Florida and across the United States. It is the right thing to do, as the current horrific conditions in Haiti clearly fit the law’s guidelines.

TPS extension and re-designation are also the right thing to do because Haiti’s crises are the result of persistent United States support for the corrupt, repressive regimes that have dismantled Haiti’s democracy over the past 12 years.

In recent years, gangs have engaged in a coordinated attack on Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince and on the Haitian people.

The gangs have taken over at least 22 police stations, executing 19 officers who tried to resist. They raided two prisons and released more than 4,600 inmates into the population. They have closed the airport, major roads, schools and many healthcare facilities.

An estimated 2,505 people were killed in gang violence from January to March; 1.4 million Haitians, mostly women and children, are “a step away from famine.”

This crisis is the direct consequence of policy choices by the corrupt, repressive regimes associated with Haiti’s PHTK (The Haitian Tet Kale Party) that have essentially illegitimately run the country since 2011.

PHTK governments have allied with gangs to attack opponents, stolen billions, and refused to hold elections.

Haiti has not had a functioning legislature or local elected officials since 2019, or any elections since the Barack Obama Administration.

All of the PHTK governments were supported by the U.S. despite objections from Haitians, human rights groups, members of Congress, and experienced State Department officials.

That dismantling of democracy would lead to such a crisis was not only predictable, it was predicted. The National Haitian-American Elected Officials Network told President Biden last September that “supporting Haiti’s corrupt, repressive, unelected regime will likely exacerbate its current political crisis to a catastrophic one.”

Haiti was led into its catastrophic political crisis by Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who won his place, not through any Haitian constitutional procedure but through an announcement by the U.S. dominated“Core Group.”

Despite having no constitutional or popular support, Henry survive for thirty-three months, longer than any other Prime Minister’s term under Haiti’s 1987 constitution. Henry’s cards include a trump card from the Biden administration, which has insisted

that Henry be part of any solution to the crisis he created.

When the March 4 gang takeover made Henry useless, the State Department pressured him to promise to resign, on March 12.

But six weeks later, Henry is not only still in office—ruling from California— but has sabotaged efforts to create a transitional government to replace him, prolonging his rule.

TPS is granted to nationals of a foreign country located in the U.S. when conditions in their country, such as ongoing armed conflict, prevent nationals from returning home safely.

Conditions needed to be better in 2021 and 2022 for the Department of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for TPS, and they have deteriorated significantly since then.

But Haitians’ TPS is only effective until August 2024. Haitians who

arrived in the U.S. after the last designation on December 5, 2022 are not covered.

On March 26, 482 immigration, human rights, faith-based and civil rights organizations pleaded with the Biden Administration to extend TPS for those who have it, re-designate it for Haitians who need it and stop

all deportations to Haiti. We are pleading again as President Biden visits Florida on Tuesday.

It is unconscionable and indefensible to fail to grant this relief to the thousands of South Florida to continue to do so.

President Biden campaigned on promises of a foreign policy “that’s centered on the defense of democracy and the protection of human rights” and an immigration system that treats people “fairly and humanely.” His administration’s flagrant refusal to keep the first promise to Haitians makes it essential that he keeps his second promise by re-designating and extending TPS for Haitians.

The time is now for the administration to offer a helping hand to Haitians in the U.S.

Marleine Bastien is the Ex. Dir. of the Family Action Network Movement (FANM)and a member of the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network. She is also a Miami-Dade County commissioner.