Bishops: Ask senators to extend TPS for Haitian refugees
As Congress returns to full sessions today, Catholic bishops are urging the Senate to approve a House bill extending temporary protected status (TPS) to some 350,000 Haitian refugees now living in the US, as well as to others holding TPS. This is part of an overall action alert issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops USCCB in support of immigration reform. Bishops urge Americans to send a message to Congress asking for passage of the DREAM Act, which will enact meaningful, compassionate and comprehensive immigration reform legislation for many people affected.
Haitian refugees were initially granted TPS — a form of temporary asylum for those fleeing extreme violence, natural disaster, war, or other civil chaos at home — by the Biden administration in 2021. Many have resettled in Ohio and Florida, holding jobs, going to school, attending church, and contributing to their communities. Last year, however, as part of the Trump administration’s promised crackdown on what it claims was the Biden-era’s lax immigration enforcement, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem abruptly ended temporary protection status for Haitians, Syrians, and others.
The decision is being reviewed by the Supreme Court, but in the meantime — and until comprehensive reform is passed — the lives of Haitian refugees in the United States have been uprooted. Unsure of their future, they have been required to prepare for deportation and to wear ankle monitors while awaiting their fate. Some deportation flights have already begun.
The president of the US bishops, Archbishop Paul Coakely, wrote a September 8 letter to President Trump about the situation. He asked the president a question:
I write with deep pastoral concern in relation to the growing number of Haitians being
forcibly repatriated to Haiti from the United States and to humbly request your assistance.
Recently, at least 47 people were brutally murdered, more than 20 injured, and over 50
kidnapped in an unconscionable act of violence perpetrated by gang members in Port-au-
Prince. Perhaps worst of all, the victims were displaced families – young children among them
– taking shelter at a church. Together with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, my brother bishops
and I express our spiritual closeness with the victims and pray for the swift release of all
hostages.As citizens of this great country, we have been entrusted with a tremendous moral
responsibility, and this is true most of all for you as our head of state, Mr. President. To this
end, I respectfully ask: What good is the immense wealth, prosperity, and influence with which
we have been blessed as a nation if not used in service of our humanity?
Unchanging chaos in Haiti
TPS is intended to expire once conditions at home have improved enough for refugees to return. However, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, who has joined with the bishops of Ohio to plead for the extension, explains in an EWTN News report, Haiti “remains a country on the brink.”
The archbishop cited “widespread gang violence and kidnapping, a rampant cholera epidemic, and spreading food insecurity.”
“The lack of functioning state institutions has resulted in a general breakdown of security, with attacks on women and children becoming commonplace,” he said.
“It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions” and it would “exacerbate Haiti’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
“No moral justification”
The bishops of the Catholic Conference of Ohio have joined Archbishop Wenski in asking all Catholics to pray and contact their representatives in support of the TSP extension.
In a June 22 statement, the bishops said they were “deeply grieved by the situation of our Haitian neighbors in Ohio.” In the heated rhetoric around immigration policy reform, Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were slandered by reports that they were stealing their neighbors’ pets and killing them for food. On the contrary, the bishops said they have witnessed “the upstanding lives Haitian families have built in Ohio.”
They work hard, support their families, worship God regularly, and seek to live in peace. Now, they await the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, likely on technical grounds, on whether TPS will continue. …
We find no moral justification for terminating their temporary protected status without an alternative way to adjust their immigration status.
Comprehensive immigration reform needed
Both Archbishop Wenski and the Ohio bishops recognize that the overall system of immigration is broken, and that it is the job of the federal government to carry out comprehensive reform. Until that happens, Archbishop Wenski argues, the “imperfect tool” of TSP is the only workable alternative for refugees in dire need.
The Ohio Catholic Conference declared, “We should have the political and social will to establish and maintain an orderly immigration process while providing a place in the U.S. for those fleeing violence or severe economic hardship.”
Looking at America at 250, the Ohio bishops wrote to “Catholics and all people of goodwill”:
Like so many of you, we yearn for political leadership that can deliberate effectively without the partisan rancor that so often seems to take precedence over legislation for the common good. Looking back over our nation’s rich history, with its faith-centered values of welcoming those who seek refuge while ensuring the safety and order of our communities, can reveal a way forward.