Six House Republicans voted with Democrats to grant temporary protected status to Haitians to live in the United States. The measure passed, and if it were to become law, it would be a disaster.
The six Republicans who voted with Democrats on Squad member Ayanna Pressley’s (D-Mass.) H.Res.965, according to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, were Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Flor.), Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Flor.), Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.). Both Bacon and Malliotakis said that we would lose too many Haitian workers without TPS, indicating their dedication to reserving U.S. jobs for foreigners.
NEW: Six House Republicans voted with Democrats today to advance Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s (D-MA) HR965, which would provide Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in the US for 3 years. Motion passed 219-209. It will now go to a final House vote tomorrow. The six House GOP to vote… pic.twitter.com/uIZOyZHOrh
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 15, 2026
The issue is that temporary protected status (TPS) often turns out to be much more than temporary. Once the people get here, they simply never leave. For example, in September 2025, DHS explained, “TPS was never meant to be a de facto asylum system, yet that is exactly what the Biden administration turned it into. Today, [Secretary Kristi] Noem is correcting the Biden administration’s decision to turn TPS into a loophole for permanent residence and terminating Venezuela’s Temporary Protected Status.”
Again, a couple months before that, referring to Trump administration rules ending TPS for multiple countries, DHS noted, “For many of these countries, TPS was granted in the 90’s after natural disasters. Now that conditions have improved, it is time to return home.”
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Significantly, in January, the Trump administration issued a notice that TPS would no longer be applied to Somalis after revelations about the massive Somali fraud network in Minnesota and other states. Many fraudsters and criminals were able to exploit TPS to stay for years in the United States and steal money from U.S. taxpayers.
In short, we have decades of experience showing that TPS is a catastrophe waiting to happen. It is carte blanche for liars, fraudsters, and criminals to enter the U.S. and claim a legal residency status they would not be able to earn through the more rigorous immigration process. It is indeed de facto asylum, and the overwhelming majority of asylum claims are fraudulent.
Next, let’s look at the text of House Resolution 965, which states:
Resolved, That immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the House shall proceed to the consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 1689) to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for temporary protected status. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived …any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and minority leader or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Why the fear of debate? It is almost as if Pressley were worried that Democrats could not really make a solid case for Haitian TPS and that Republicans might be too successful in arguing against it if allowed enough time to speak.
World Population Review rates Haiti among the five nations with the highest crime index worldwide. The last thing we need is massive more numbers of Haitians granted TPS. America is a sovereign nation, not the world’s charity.
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