Haitian TPS will end in February. Haitian businesses in Miramar fight to keep it
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants will end on Feb. 3 at the order of Secretary of State Kristi Noem.
Haitian workers and business owners gathered at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 28, to demand a TPS extension, citing the U.S. government’s Level 4 travel advisory on Haiti that says do not travel to the country.
Miramar Haitian-American Residents and Business Owners (MHARBO) Chair and founder Farah Larrieux told the Miramar News that she is a TPS holder worried about the outcome should her protection end.
She attended Wednesday’s gathering with other founding members of the organization.
“I could be at my office taking care of my business,” Larrieux said, “But I can’t, because I am in constant work to advocate … to do what I need to do to convince people that this is not right.”
Larrieux incorporated Thelar Management Group, a marketing firm focused on Haitian audiences, in the U.S. in 2005 and was granted TPS in 2010 after an earthquake in Haiti.
When sharing her difficulties attaining citizenship, she told the crowd, “It is not for lack of effort or merit.”
Larrieux told the Miramar News she is in the process of applying for asylum, but lives in “constant fear” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. MHARBO has canceled some events or made them virtual to protect members.
“You’re telling me to pack 20 years of my life in a bag, in a box and go back to Haiti, a country where things are very bad,” she said.
The travel advisory is due to kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest and limited health care, according to the Department of State.
Larrieux and other Miramar residents have spent their time at MHARBO since its 2020 founding growing a positive relationship with Miramar commissioners and Broward County officials, hosting debates for local and national elections and holding the Haitian Resources Fair of Broward.
“It’s not only the nationality, but also how we share the same interests in the city, and Miramar is a beautiful city,” she said.
Claiming that the airport runs on immigrants, FLL workers, members of labor unions SEIU 32BJ, SEIU 1199, Unite HERE and MHARBO held a silent vigil and conference inside Terminal 4. They walked down all four terminals with signs and candles.
Larrieux and the other organizers are supporting a discharge petition from U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts) to extend TPS, which would force a vote on the issue in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Broward Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick attended the vigil, voicing their support for the petition.
According to a Jan. 22 news release from Pressley, over 20% of Haitians work in health care, during a health care worker shortage. Haitian TPS holders contribute $35 billion a year to the U.S. economy. Organizers claimed wheelchair pushers at FLL are mostly Haitian, and deporting them would create chaos.
North Miami City Clerk Vanessa Joseph warned about longer lines and delays in service.
“Before I got here, I was kind of hopeless, but coming here today and seeing that everybody’s standing up together, I believe they’re going to extend [TPS],” FLL worker Michelle Pierre told the Miramar News.
