A handful of Republican voices are pushing back against the Trump administration's drive to strip Haitian migrants of their legal protections, even after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the move. Among the most vocal is Florida Rep. Carlos Giménez, who represents a Miami-Dade district with roughly 110,000 residents of Haitian descent and who told CBS News flatly that sending those people back would be "a huge mistake."
"Haiti is a failed state, and I think that deporting Haitians that are under TPS right now, back to Haiti, would be a huge mistake," Giménez said. The congressman, who came to the United States from Cuba at age seven, argued that temporary protected status exists precisely for situations like Haiti's — and, he added, like Venezuela's following the record twin earthquakes that struck the north-central part of that country on June 24, prompting him to call for TPS to be restored for Venezuelans as well.
Temporary protected status, in Giménez's view, "is meant to safeguard those who are either fleeing countries that are failed states and are at risk of going back to them or countries that really can't handle them right now, as is the case with Venezuela that has suffered a natural disaster."
The Supreme Court's decision opened the door for the administration to terminate protections covering more than 350,000 Haitians and around 6,000 Syrians. Despite that ruling, the Department of Homeland Security issued guidance last week indicating that Haitian TPS holders would retain their status and work authorization "until the lower courts align with the US Supreme Court's favorable decision."
Ohio's Republican Governor Mike DeWine made similar arguments, urging the White House last week to reverse course. His state hosts a sizable Haitian community in Springfield — the same city that Donald Trump and JD Vance targeted with false claims during the 2024 campaign. DeWine told CNN that Haitian workers are woven into Ohio's economy in ways that would be difficult to replace. "Look at how it's going to impact states like Ohio. In Ohio, the Haitians are working primarily in manufacturing, they're also working in the food area," he said. "It's Haitians who, many times, are taking care of your mom or your dad who has Alzheimer's, taking care of family members who might be in a nursing home. And to say we're going to pull all those people out, it's just not in our own self-interest."
Citing State Department travel advisories, DeWine said Haiti is "clearly" unsafe and contended that ending TPS "is not in the United States's interest, certainly not in Ohio's interest, to have people who are working every single day, who are supporting a family, who are buying houses, fixing up old houses, starting businesses, and then put deep roots in this country, and really are contributing – and yank them out."
New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who holds a competitive swing-district seat ahead of the midterms, has also come out against ending Haitian TPS. Lawler has noted that one-third of Haitian TPS holders are employed in healthcare, warning that "immediately shutting off TPS" would "create a crisis" across hospitals, nursing homes, and services for people with disabilities.
Giménez's opposition is not new. Back in April he issued a statement declaring, "Haiti today is overrun by violent gangs. It is neither safe nor humane to force our neighbors back into those conditions." He backed legislation — HR 1689 — that would require the homeland security secretary to maintain Haiti's TPS designation through 2029, describing the measure as "not just sound policy – it's the right thing to do and I'm proud to vote for this commonsense, bipartisan solution that ensures our Haitian neighbors can continue contributing to our community."
The bill cleared the House by a 224–204 vote, drawing support from a bloc of South Florida Republicans — Giménez, María Elvira Salazar, and Mario Díaz-Balart, all from Miami — alongside Florida Democrats. It now sits before the Senate awaiting action.