Florida Republican calls Haitians’ deportation after TPS ruling a ‘huge mistake’

House Florida Republican calls Haitians’ deportation after TPS ruling a ‘huge mistake’ Comments: by Ashleigh Fields - 07/05/26 3:57 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ashleigh Fields - 07/05/26 3:57 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Florida Rep. Carlos Giménez (R) on Sunday said efforts to deport Haitians after the Supreme Court ruling upholding the Trump administration’s decision to rescind temporary protective status (TPS) would be a “mistake.”

“In the case of Haiti, without a doubt, Haiti is a failed state, and I think that deporting Haitians that are under TPS right now back to Haiti would be a huge mistake,” Giménez said during a Sunday appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“I mean, that’s the reason why TPS was established to begin with, just like with Venezuelans. If Venezuelans lose their TPS status, which they have, too, we should reinstate that because of the devastation caused by these earthquakes that happened last week,” he added, noting the U.S. should act as a safeguard to those in need.

Haiti remains locked in a severe humanitarian crisis driven by compounding natural disasters and near-total gang governance. The intersection of catastrophic earthquakes, systemic political collapse and widespread paramilitary violence has left millions of citizens vulnerable, forcing international organizations to repeatedly sound the alarm.

In 2021, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, and the country was hit by a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake in the southern peninsula.

This disaster displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and it deepened severe food and clean water shortages caused by a 7.0 earthquake in 2010, which killed over 200,000 people and leveled the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, “there’s a lot of people that came over here 15, 20 years ago underneath TPS that’s already changed their status,” during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“The whole time these individuals have been here underneath the temporary protected status, they could have applied for a visa,” he continued, adding that the individuals also could have applied for lawful permanent residency.

After the Supreme Court ruling, roughly 350,000 Haitians who found safe harbor in the U.S. are at risk of losing their Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) and facing deportation, although many are also separately navigating the U.S. asylum system.

“TPS should be – should not be abused. TPS is what it says, temporary protected status. And if you’re here for a number of years, you should change your status from TPS to something else,” Giménez told guest host Ed O’Keefe on Sunday.

“But, by the same token, it is meant to safeguard those that are fleeing countries which are either failed states and there would be at risk of going back to them, or countries that really can’t handle them right now, as the case of Venezuela,” he added.

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