In a direct appeal to President Donald Trump on behalf of more than 60,000 Haitians living in Florida and facing potential deportation, state Senator Daphne Campbell (D-Miami) and House Representative Al Jacquet (D-Delray Beach) will travel to the nation’s capital on Thursday to meet with top administration officials.
Senator Campbell and Rep. Jacquet are expected to meet at 2 pm on Nov. 2nd with William (Billy) Kirkland, Special Assistant to the President & Deputy Director White House Intergovernmental Affairs, and Landon Loomis, Special Advisor for Western Hemisphere & Global Economics, Office of the Vice President.
The topic of the meeting will be those Haitians who were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the United States after fleeing earthquakes, hurricanes, and an economy ravaged by the disasters. Without an extension of the TPS program, tens of thousands of these individuals will face immediate deportation on January 22, 2018.
Both Senator Campbell and Rep. Jacquet have been outspoken in their defense of allowing these refugees to remain in Florida while Haiti continues to rebuild, and are also expected to hold meetings with US Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio and other elected officials to discuss the expulsion threat and immediate need for extending the TPS program.