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WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation Thursday that would reinstate temporary protections for Haitian immigrants living in the U.S., breaking with President Donald Trump on immigration.
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The measure passed after a handful of Republicans defied their own GOP leadership and teamed up with Democrats on a discharge petition to force the vote on the House floor.
It passed 224-204, with 10 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting yes. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California independent who caucuses with Republicans, also voted yes.
The White House has vowed that Trump would veto the bill should it reach his desk. It next heads to the Senate, but it’s unclear whether it can pass there.
The bill would require the homeland security secretary to designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for three years, as Haitians here find themselves in legal limbo. The Trump administration has moved to terminate TPS for Haitians, but a federal court stepped in to block Trump’s move.
Trump’s attempts to remove TPS status for immigrants from both Haiti and Syria are now before the Supreme Court.
“The Administration understands members have to vote their districts at times. This terrible bill is going nowhere, and there has been a veto threat issued,” a White House official said Thursday. “The administration is focused on enforcing federal immigration law and putting American citizens first.”
Thursday was the fourth time this Congress that a small bloc of moderate Republicans has worked with Democrats to circumvent Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other GOP leaders to advance legislation not supported by the vast majority of Republicans.
The flurry of successful discharge petitions highlights the GOP’s narrow 218-213 majority, allowing the minority Democrats to take control of the floor by picking off just a few Republicans.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, led the latest discharge push. She described how Haitian nurses cared for her mother in the final days of her battle with cancer.
“One in 4 of our long-term health care workers are Haitian, and 1 in 5 of our health care workers are Haitian,” Pressley said in a floor speech before the vote. “The caregiving crisis impacts families throughout America. Our seniors need care to age with dignity and community.”
“It is Haitian TPS holders who disproportionately serve as caregivers and home health aides,” she added, “who during the pandemic risked their lives to care for the sick and the ailing.”
Responding to Pressley on the floor, Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., a conservative firebrand, cited three examples of when Haitian immigrants had committed violent crimes in his state.
“This whole thing is a scam. It was created for people who were protected because there was an earthquake 16 years ago, and now 350,000 people have been able to stay in our country for 16 years,” Fine said.
“I did not come here to protect Haitians. I came to protect for the good of our country,” he continued, “and the only discharge petition I will support is the one that discharges all of these people back to Haiti.”
Temporary Protected Status allows foreign nationals from countries facing war, environmental disasters or other unsafe conditions to live and work in the U.S. for a certain time.
The Trump administration tried to terminate the Temporary Protected Status of about 350,000 Haitian immigrants last summer, but a federal judge halted the move. The administration appealed the decision shortly after the judge indefinitely postponed the terminations in an order in February. It is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court this month.
The legislation was first introduced last year in the Republican-controlled House by Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.
The House passed a procedural vote Wednesday, 219-209, on the discharge petition to force a vote on Lawler and Gillen’s bill. There were 212 Democrats and one independent who voted yes, along with six Republicans: Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos A. Gimenez of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Don Bacon of Nebraska and Lawler and Nicole Malliotakis of New York.
In Thursday’s successful floor vote, four more Republicans joined those six in passing the bill: Mike Carey and Mike Turner of Ohio, Rich McCormick of Georgia and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida.
Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.
Kyla Guilfoil is a breaking news reporter on the politics team for NBC News Digital.
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