Rep. Al Jacquet

Seeking to hold President Donald Trump to a campaign promise he made to be “the greatest champion” of Haitian-Americans, state Senator Daphne Campbell (D-38 Miami) has filed a measure to extend Haiti’s temporary protected status designation (TPS) for at least 18 months beyond its scheduled January 22, 2018 expiration.
The House companion will be filed by Representative Al Jacquet (D-88 Palm Beach).
“On the campaign trail, Donald Trump assured Haitian-Americans, many of them living in my district, that they deserve better, and that he would give them better,” said Senator Campbell. “They took him at his word, and I am holding him to those promises.”
The memorial filed by Senator Campbell (SM 442) is earmarked for the President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Department of State, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security. Currently, more than 58,000 Haitians resettled in South Florida benefit from the TPS program, which was established for refugees following earthquakes, hurricanes, and ensuing disease, which ravaged the country several years ago, and from which Haiti has still not fully recovered.
Earlier this year, the Trump Administration granted a six-month extension to the program, with a warning to the refugees to prepare for deportation once the reprieve ended in mid-January. Senator Campbell, who hails from the island nation, is asking that TPS be extended for an additional 18 months as Haiti continues to ready for the refugees’ return.
“These individuals have contributed greatly to the economy of Florida. They have not only rebuilt their lives, they have built the American success story from nothing,” said Senator Campbell. “Uprooting them means sending entire families back to the devastation they worked to overcome. And it would violate every promise President Trump made to protect them on American soil.”