Figures Gives Floor Statement Pressing the Trump Administration to Extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians

WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. Shomari C. Figures (AL-02), spoke on the House floor to address the recent decision by the Trump Administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals in the United States. Highlighting the dire conditions in Haiti, including rampant gang violence, government instability, Figures urged the Administration to reconsider its stance and extend protection to those fleeing these life-threatening circumstances.

Watch Rep. Figures’ floor statement on YouTube. 

Below are Rep. Figures’ remarks, as delivered on the House floor today: 

Thank you, Representative Mfume. 

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a question, similar to many of the questions we just heard the distinguished gentleman from Maryland raise, as it related to historical events that happened across this country, particularly in Tulsa. But it’s a question that gets to the core of what he’s saying is: Who are we as America? Who are we? Who are we as a nation? Who are we as a people? In the flurry of activity that comes out of this Administration, that comes out of the White House, it is easy to overlook certain things that the Administration is doing that is impacting people that we may not see every day, that you may not even know. 

One of those unfortunate occurrences happened late last week when the administration decided to revoke the Temporary Protected Status for about half a million people who are in the nation legally from the nation of Haiti. Now, the TPS program—Temporary Protected Status program—is designed, it is specifically designed to provide temporary, temporary, temporary status—legal status, not permanent status, not citizenship, but temporary status—to people who are from nations that find themselves in situations similar to what is going on in Haiti right now, where they are wrapped in a situation of a destabilized government, a not-too-long-ago assassinated president, a situation where gangs are literally controlling large swaths of the country—over 85% of the capital city. It’s not safe for people to be pushed back into those environments. 

And this is one that’s personal to me. It’s personal to me because I’ve had the privilege in life to meet a man named Gerald. A man named Gerald Dessources, who came to this country from the nation of Haiti, who worked his way through college, refined his English by listening to Sesame Street, by listening to Martin Luther King’s speeches, and went on to become an engineer at a Fortune 500 company here in the United States in New York. I’ve had the privilege to get to know a woman from Haiti by the name of Kathleen Dessources, who immigrated here as a young child, following her mother, who was pursuing that American Dream of making life better for her children. And she too worked her way through to her American Dream. She’s been a healthcare worker for decades. 

And the two of them, Gerald and Kathleen, they didn’t stop with them. Those same values that they brought with them, that same dream that they brought with them from the country of Haiti, they instilled that in their children—their four daughters, one of whom is a schoolteacher, one of whom is a speech pathologist, one of whom is an Ivy League-educated gynecological oncologist in North Carolina, and the fourth of whom holds four different degrees from three different Ivy League schools. And I have the privilege of calling her my wife. And the mother of our children. They come from Haiti. They are evidence of what Haitians have produced for this country and contributed to this country. 

For us as America to ignore the current conditions of what is happening in Haiti, to turn our backs on people who need us most. This is a nation that prides ourselves on being that beacon of hope. This is a nation where, when you look at one of our most famous landmarks, the Statue of Liberty, it says, “Bring me your tired, bring me your poor, bring me your huddled masses who yearn to be free.” But by ignoring the conditions that are currently present in Haiti, we’re not living up to that model. We’re not living up to that creed. What we’re doing is sending people back to an environment where they are certain to meet—certain to meet--ends that we would not wish on anybody. 

We see the reports of gang violence in the streets. We see the reports of women being raped. We see the reports of children being forced to partake in armed conflict. We see the reports of food insecurity. We see the reports of people who no longer own the homes that they left from because they’re now under the control of armed gangs. We see the reports that Haiti doesn’t have a police force that can protect its people. They don’t have a military force that can protect its people. Yet we are sending people back to that environment. It’s not safe. It’s not the right thing to do. 

There are ways to lead with strength but decency. There are ways to enforce the law in a manner that recognizes reality and exudes compassion. This is not that. This is not who we are as Americans. We can do so much better than this. We can be that place of refuge. We can be that place that America and the world still looks up to as standing up for people that need us most. 

Again, TPS is not, this is not about permanent citizenship. This is about a temporary place for people to be safe from gun violence, from armed conflict, from being kidnapped, from being held for ransom. Because that is what will surely happen to some of the people that are returned back to Haiti. And these are people who are proud people, who are hardworking people. My wife’s family is just one example of that—just one example. But there are millions of Haitian Americans who make vital contributions to this country every single day. For us to turn our backs on them now, it’s simply not right. It is indecent. It is inhumane. And quite frankly, it is un-American. 

So I urge, I plead, I beg of the White House to reconsider its restriction on TPS and extend the protection for the Haitians that are in America. 

Mr. Speaker, I yield back.