South Florida’s Haitian community pushes for measures to protect TPS recipients during rally in Miami

As the fate of those living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, remains up in the air, the local Haitian community came together to push local leaders to support legislation that would protect them.

The rally began Thursday afternoon at the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, where many among the Haitian community pleaded for local leaders to begin taking measures to protect TPS recipients after a Supreme Court ruling in June allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disasters in Haiti and Syria.

The 6-3 decision allows the Trump administration to revoke TPS from nearly 350,000 Haitian nationals and about 6,000 Syrians that live in the United States.

Rallygoers were pushing for local leaders to support a measure being considered in the U.S. Senate that would extend TPS for both Haitians and Syrians.

Some local leaders spoke at the rally, drumming up support in the community for that measure. They also reiterated that, in their belief, the decision to revoke TPS would not only massively impact the lives of those who benefitted from it but would also devastate sectors of South Florida’s economy.

7News spoke with Santra Dennis, one of the event organizers for Thursday’s rally.

“We’re here today because we know that TPS holders make our economy run here in South Florida. We know they are our neighbors, they are our family and friends and, because of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling clearing the way for what we would think is mass deportations, we wanna show solidarity, show love and also that they’re not the only ones that will be impacted — we will be impacted as well,” said Dennis.

Organizers hope the renewed calls to extend TPS push elected officials to take actions that would help protect the immigration status of hundreds of thousands of people who have relied on that status to provide for their families.

“I’m standing here for those TPS holders who are too afraid to be here for themselves to remind the American people, to remind South Florida, our friends and neighbors and colleagues that these people with TPS status, yes, it means temporary protected status, they have been here, living, working in the United States legally,” said Gepsie Metellus, another rally organizer.

The bipartisan measure, which originally passed the U.S. House of Representatives in April, faces an uphill battle for passage in the Senate. If passed, it would extend TPS for Haitians and others impacted by the Supreme Court ruling through April 20, 2029.

Haitians first became eligible for TPS in the wake of a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake that devastated the country in 2010.

With the Supreme Court upholding President Donald Trump’s executive order to terminate TPS status for thousands of Haitians, rallygoers are hopeful the bipartisan bill awaiting the Senate could be the first step in continuing to provide shelter as Haiti faces another humanitarian crisis that has embroiled the country since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

The deepening crisis has seen much of the country fall under the control of heavily armed militias and gangs, which has forced more than 1 million residents to flee from their homes.

“Immigrants are Americans. Immigrants made America. I still believe that we can be a country that is the refuge for people who cannot make it where they are, that this is a place where they can make their lives and help make our country in the process,” said rallygoer Jordan Levin.

Rallygoers are optimistic Florida Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody will be among the Republicans necessary to vote in favor of passing the measure facing the Senate. Even if the upper chamber of Congress passes the bill, it would still require President Trump’s signature before becoming law.