Six Republicans Break Ranks to Oppose Trump on Immigration
Six House Republicans sided with the Democratic Party on Wednesday, forcing a vote on a bill that could expand protections for Haitian immigrants.
Republican Reps. María Elvira Salazar (Florida), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania), Mike Lawler (New York), Don Bacon (Nebraska), Carlos Giménez (Florida) and Nicole Malliotakis (New York) voted alongside 212 House Democrats and one independent to advance a vote to extend Haitians’ temporary protected status for three years.
“I have one of the largest Haitian populations in the country in my district,” Lawler said. The Washington Post. “If you finish [temporary protections] Without addressing the issue of work authorization, this will cause a huge crisis in our healthcare system, especially in a region like mine, where many of our Haitian TPS holders are nurses.
The minority party used a discharge petition to bring the issue before the House, circumventing the whims of House Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump.
Politicians across the country have argued that ending TPS for Haitians would threaten the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families, disrupt state economies, and jeopardize the futures of children born in the United States.
Haitians have become a prime target of the MAGA movement in recent years. In 2024, several prominent party members, including then-vice presidential candidate JD Vance, launched racist and baseless accusations against Haitian immigrants in Ohio, claiming they were causing “constant car accidents” and capturing and eating their neighbors’ pets.
The Trump administration set an end date for TPS for Haiti on September 2, 2025, a decision expected to affect more than 348,000 people in the United States. But efforts have since been delayed in the court system as lower courts intervened to prevent the suspension.
The administrator has appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which will hear the government’s arguments on April 29. Nineteen attorneys general jointly filed a complaint. amicus brief imploring the country’s highest court to confirm the legal status of Haitians.
