Audio By Carbonatix
A contingent of nursing home workers, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members, and Haitian refugees is calling on the federal government to continue protections for Haitian immigrants following the Trump administration’s announcement that it plans to end their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in February.
The group is planning a press conference, candlelight vigil, and interfaith prayer at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at noon on Wednesday to urge federal leaders to extend Haitian refugee protections. The protest comes a day after a group of clergy, business leaders, and politicians held a similar conference in Miami Shores. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to end Haitian TPS puts nearly 350,000 immigrants in the firing line of President Donald Trump’s rollbacks on immigrant protections; more than 113,000 of those immigrants are in the Florida workforce, according to the American Business Immigration Coalition Action (ABIC Action). Noem made the announcement in November, the same month up to 600,000 Venezuelan refugees lost their protected immigration status.
“My aunt has TPS and has lived and worked here for years. We are the only family she has,” Michelle Pierre, a Fort Lauderdale airport worker said in a news release. “The U.S. government is telling Americans not to travel to Haiti because it’s not safe. I don’t understand why her life and the lives of thousands of other Haitians who’ve built their lives and families here don’t matter.”
Haitian refugees obtained TPS under then-President Barack Obama following a catastrophic earthquake in January 2010. Subsequent extensions came under former President Joe Biden, with DHS at the time citing social unrest, security concerns, crippling poverty, and an increase in human-rights abuses.
In its November 2025 announcement to end Haitian TPS, DHS argued the country is now safe for return, writing, “After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary determined that Haiti no longer meets the conditions for the designation for Temporary Protected Status.”
But a travel guide posted by the U.S. Department of State, which manages the nation’s foreign policies, notes Haiti is unsafe for travel, noting kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited healthcare as reasons people shouldn’t travel there.
“Haiti has been under a State of Emergency since March 2024. Crimes involving firearms are common in Haiti. They include robbery, carjackings, sexual assault, and kidnappings for ransom. Do not travel to Haiti for any reason,” according to a U.S. Department of State July 2025 travel advisory that appears to still be in effect on the department website.
“If Haiti had the peace, stability, security, jobs, housing, and good governance that every Haitian dreams of, it would not have been a problem for me to go back to my country,” Farrah Larrieux, TPS holder and chair of the Miramar Haitian-American Residents and Business Owners Association, said in a news release. “But this is not the case. Why does Trump have such disregard for people’s lives?”
Immigrant activists argue that Haitian TPS holders contribute significantly to U.S. culture through taxes and their everyday work.
“Haitian TPS holders contribute $1.3 billion in Florida state and local taxes, while 63,000 TPS homeowners add $19 billion to housing values,” ABIC Action officials said in a news release. “Many of them are also vital to the healthcare and elder care workforce.
“Nationwide, TPS holders represent 15 percent of all noncitizen healthcare workers, with over 20 percent of Haitians employed in healthcare roles. The loss of these trusted caregivers threatens to deepen the nation’s senior care crisis, disrupt families, and further strain an industry already facing severe workforce shortages. In Florida, immigrants comprise one in four long-term care workers and over 30 percent of nursing home support roles.”
The goal of the press conference, according to its organizers, is to explain the effect of TPS expiry on the South Florida Haitian community, “as well as call on President Trump to swiftly take the morally right, economically crucial, and politically smart path and preserve work permits for Haitians and other long-term immigrants in Miami and nationwide ahead of the February 3 deadline,” a news release states.
According to ABIC Action, the U.S. “is facing a demographic crisis: The population of older adults is rapidly increasing while the pool of available caregivers is shrinking.”
“Ending TPS doesn’t protect American workers—it does the opposite,” Helene O’Brien, vice president of 32BJ SEIU, a property service workers union, said in a news release. “By stripping legal status from people who are working legally today, the government is forcing workers further into the shadows, where they are more likely to be exploited and underpaid. That lowers wages and standards for everyone.”
