In recent months conditions have deteriorated rapidly in Haiti, where armed gangs have seized control of much of the capital city of Port-Au-Prince and millions remain at risk of indiscriminate violence and persecution. In new guidance released on March 20, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) stated that nearly half of the country’s 11.4 million people require some form of humanitarian assistance. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been displaced in just the last two months amid escalating violence. The UN further estimates that more than 2 million Haitians, including 600,000 children, currently live in areas under gang control.
Pathways to protection for Haitians in danger are limited. Port-Au-Prince Airport has been closed due to the violence, and existing legal pathways – like the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) private sponsorship humanitarian parole program – are slow moving and restricted to those with financial means and ties to the U.S.
Even so, an increasing number of displaced Haitians have made it to U.S. shores seeking protection. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has documented 275,000 Haitian arrivals since October 2022, encompassing both asylum seekers at the border and those arriving via the CHNV parole program. But the vast majority of these arrivals have been offered only temporary protections, stuck in limbo with limited access to services and the looming threat of detention and deportation. Many have arrived on temporary grants of one or two-year humanitarian parole (over 150,000 Haitians have entered the U.S. via CHNV parole since January 2023). Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is available to those who arrived before November 2022 (approximately 212,000 Haitian nationals), but TPS protections expire on August 3, 2024 and have not yet been extended or redesignated by the Biden administration.
Haitian arrivals are eligible for certain Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) services. But ORR has been underfunded, and the Cuban-Haitian Entrant Program (or CHEP, a separate program within USCIS that offered more comprehensive resettlement services to Haitians) was ended under the Trump administration and has not been restored.
Since 2022, UNHCR has called for the suspension of all forced returns to Haiti due to the escalating violence. But the U.S. has continued deportations both via ICE air flights and maritime returns. These policies are part of a long history of U.S. mistreatment of Haitian refugees and migrants – we have consistently failed to offer Haitians lasting protection, and deported many into dangerous conditions. This failure is a stain on our nation’s legacy of welcome made more grotesque by the causal links tying decades of American foreign interventions to instability and forced migration throughout the hemisphere.
Join us in calling on Congress and the Biden administration to break from this long history of discrimination and to instead take a clear moral stand in support of displaced Haitians. President Biden must work to extend and redesignate TPS; halt all detentions, deportations, and maritime returns; bolster ORR and restore the USCIS Cuban-Haitian Entrant Program; and expand and expedite pathways to protection for those fleeing violence.
1. CONTACT YOUR TWO SENATORS AND ONE REPRESENTATIVE TODAY
On the right-hand side, you can send an email to your Members of Congress.
Sample Script: “My name is [INSERT NAME]. As your constituent from [CITY/TOWN] and a [person of faith/refugee/member of my community], I urge you to act swiftly and decisively to support displaced Haitians amid escalating violence in Port-au-Prince. There are a number of ways Congress and the Biden administration can support Haitians who are in the U.S. and those arriving at our shores seeking protection. Specifically, I urge you to:
- Support the immediate extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Special Student Relief for Haitian students. Over a hundred thousand Haitians currently rely on Temporary Protected Status in the U.S., protections that are set to expire just months from now on August 4, 2024. An extension and redesignation would offer stability to those currently with TPS and make over 250,000 individuals newly eligible for protection.
- Call on the Biden administration to release Haitians currently in immigration detention and commit to halting deportations, maritime returns, and detention outside the U.S. in facilities like Guantanamo Bay. UNHCR has urged states to suspend deportations to Haiti since 2022 due to the violent conditions deportees face upon their return. But repatriations continue even as conditions deteriorate, and reports suggest the U.S. is preparing to send fleeing Haitians interdicted at sea to third-country detention facilities like Guantanamo rather than offering protection.
- Robustly fund the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and support the reinstitution of the Cuban-Haitian Entrant Program (CHEP) within USCIS. ORR provides integration services to Haitian arrivals, and the CHEP program offered needed resettlement support before it was shut down under the Trump administration.
- Protect, expand, and expedite pathways to protection. I urge you to call on the Biden administration to expand and expedite the Cuban-Haitian-Nicaraguan-Venezuelan parole program to ensure more Haitians are able to use the program to find protection. I further urge you, in legislation and oversight, to preserve access to asylum at the border and in the interior such that Haitians and other asylum seekers have due process and can effectively make their case for permanent protections.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been displaced in just the last two months as violence continues. I call on you to stand with those who have been displaced, reject continued deportations and returns, and support more welcoming, humane policies for Haitians seeking protection. Thank you.”
2. CALL THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO URGE SWIFT ACTION TO PROTECT DISPLACED HAITIANS
You can reach the Biden Administration directly by calling 202-318-7887.
Sample Script: “My name is [insert name], and as a person from [City, State] and a [person of faith/refugee/member of my community], I urge you to respond to escalating violence in Haiti with swift and decisive action in support of those who have been displaced. Specifically, I urge you to:
- Extend and redesignate Temporary Protected Status for Haiti immediately. TPS for Haiti is set to expire and without a redesignation many recent arrivals are not eligible to access protections.
- Immediately suspend all plans to deport, return, or detain Haitian migrants, including those interdicted at sea. I further urge you to refrain from using third country detention sites like Guantanamo Bay to process interdicted Haitians.
- Restore the Cuban-Haitian Entrant Program (CHEP) and bolster the Office of Refugee Resettlement to continue offering resettlement support and integration services to Haitian arrivals.
- Protect, expand, and expedite pathways to protection. I urge you to expedite processing and increase the cap for the CHNV humanitarian parole program, and I urge you to protect and maintain access to the asylum process by ending harsh and ineffective border restrictions and protecting due process.
This is a moment of reckoning. I urge this administration to take a clear moral stand in support of Haitians who remain at risk and those seeking protection at our shores and within our communities.”
3. AMPLIFY ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Share this message with national leaders on social media! See below for sample social media posts and find sample graphics here.
@legislator Three ways you can support Haitians amid escalating violence in Port-au-Prince:
- Redesignate TPS
- Suspend Haitian deportations/detention/maritime returns
- Support ORR services and restore the Cuban-Haitian Entrant Program
@legislator We must welcome Haitians fleeing violence! Congress can support expanding and expediting legal pathways to protection like CHNV parole and preserving real access to permanent protections by upholding the asylum system.
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