Lawmakers Seek To Extend Temporary Protected Status For Haitian Immigrants

January 26, 2026 – Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) filed a discharge petition last week to force a House vote on a bill to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians for three years.

TPS allows immigrants from countries where living conditions are dangerous to live and work legally in the U.S. As we reported earlier this month, Haitians and other immigrants with this protected status make up significant parts of the workforce in meatpacking plants—from Maryland to Colorado.

The Trump administration’s decision to end the program for 350,000 Haitians is set to go into effect next week, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has also moved to end TPS for immigrants from Venezuela, Nepal, Somalia, Burma, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.

House Democrats emphasized Haitians’ contributions to the economy at a Capitol Hill press conference Thursday announcing the petition. And earlier in the week, Pressley hosted an event with Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) in their home state, where union representatives, business leaders, and community advocates explained how local businesses and families will likely be harmed by the end of TPS.

Jen Ziskin, the executive director of Massachusetts Restaurants United, said that independent restaurants are struggling because employees are afraid to come to work. “Haitian TPS holders are not abstract policy debates,” she said. “They are cooks, dishwashers, servers, managers, and owners. They’re experienced, reliable, legally authorized workers, and they’ve become our family.”

“If TPS is terminated, the damage will be immediate,” she added. “Restaurants will lose staff they cannot replace. Hours will be cut, prices will rise, and closures will follow. And because Haitians work throughout the food system in farming, processing, distribution, and delivery, the consequences spread far beyond restaurants.”

The discharge petition currently has 27 signatures and will need 218 in total to force a vote on the measure. At the same time, a federal judge has promised to rule by Feb. 2 on a case challenging the Trump administration’s termination of TPS for Haitians.

Yesterday, a federal judge in a separate case stopped the administration from ending TPS for Burmese immigrants. DHS’s termination of TPS for nearly all immigrant groups, he said, was evidence of decisions made based on a broader goal of stopping immigration, not on a factual evaluation of changed conditions in each of the countries. (Link to this post.)

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