House approves three-year deportation amnesty for Haitians

The House delivered a stark rebuke Thursday to President Trump’s immigration policy by voting to grant temporary protected status to Haitians in the U.S., reviving a deportation amnesty for some 350,000 migrants.

The Trump administration canceled the protective status earlier this year. The House bill would restore the status and extend it into the early part of 2029, putting it beyond this administration’s reach.

The legislation was approved on a 224-204 vote, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats in support. Democrats celebrated the rare victory on an issue that has put them on the defensive in recent years.

“This is a hopeful moment for so many across the country, to take a positive step forward on immigration policy in America after so much darkness,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat who led the debate on the measure.

The bill faces a steeper hill in the Senate. Even if it reaches the floor, it likely will need to survive a filibuster.

It also would likely be vetoed by Mr. Trump.

The president has been pushing to reel in the Biden administration’s expansive use of temporary protected status. The administration added 1 million people to the ranks of the protected.

The Haitians, in particular, have been a target for Mr. Trump.

During the 2024 campaign, Mr. Trump claimed, largely without basis, that Haitian migrants in Ohio were eating residents’ pets.

The House vote against Mr. Trump’s wishes underscores the touchiness of immigration politics right now.

Temporary protected status amounts to a stay of deportation, entitles recipients to some taxpayer benefits, and gives them the chance to earn a work permit and compete for jobs.

It is intended for use in cases in which a country faces war, political instability or an epidemic or has suffered a natural disaster and where it would be difficult to force citizens to return home. Temporary protected status gives nations a chance to recover and migrants a place to wait it out.

Temporary protected status generally lasts 18 months, though it can be renewed.

In reality, it has become a backdoor immigration system.

Hundreds of thousands of Central Americans have been living in the U.S. under temporary protected status since the turn of the century. Tens of thousands of Haitians have been living in the U.S. since a 2010 earthquake.

The first Trump administration tried to end temporary protected status for Haitians but was blocked in court. The Biden administration then expanded the status for Haitians, adding some 300,000 people to its ranks. Most of them were illegal immigrants who took advantage of lax border controls under the Biden administration.

Mr. Trump moved to rein it back but again met resistance in the courts.

The Supreme Court is slated to hear oral argument on that case, and another involving temporary protected status for Syrians, in two weeks.

The justices previously allowed the administration to wind down an even larger temporary protected status for Venezuelans.

Under President Biden, the number of temporary protected status holders went from about 400,000 in late 2020 to about 1.3 million in early 2025.

Mr. Trump has moved to cancel temporary protected status for more than 1 million of those migrants. Some could try to obtain another legal status, though most would instantly become illegal immigrants once again subject to deportation.

Republican leaders complained that the latest bill for Haitians would give Congress’ imprimatur to the broken border under Mr. Biden.

“First, let in 10 million illegal immigrants during the Biden administration. Then create sanctuary jurisdictions where it becomes difficult to do any removal,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican. “Then defund ICE — the guys who do the removal — and now, today, make temporary permanent.”

Republicans pointed to a homicide case in Florida, where a mother was slain in a brutal attack with a hammer. The man charged in the slaying is Rolbert Joachin, who came to the U.S. in 2022 despite his lack of a legal visa, was given catch-and-release and then ordered removed.

The Biden administration then approved him for temporary protected status, though that expired in 2024.

“How many more Americans do we need to see get murdered?” said Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts Democrat, countered with an example of a woman, Rebecca, who suffered through the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and then faced multiple kidnapping attempts before fleeing to the U.S.

Thanks to temporary protected status, Rebecca is now a certified nursing assistant.

Indeed, Democrats said many of the Haitian holders of temporary protected status work as health aides, holding down jobs Americans generally eschew.

Temporary protected status can apply to those in the U.S. on temporary legal visas, meaning they don’t have to go home when their visas expire, but, for the most part, it covers illegal immigrants.

A Judiciary Committee study calculated that 90% of Haitians covered by temporary protected status lacked visas to be in the U.S.

In the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, doubted the bill would have legs.

He pointed out that immigration legislation from both parties has struggled in recent years.

“It’s hard to move any kind of legislation,” he said.

The Republicans who joined Democrats were Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska; Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Salazar and Carlos Gimenez of Florida; Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; Mike Carey and Mike Turner of Ohio; Rich McCormick of Georgia; and Nicole Malliotakis and Mike Lawler of New York.

Mr. Lawler said a large percentage of Haiti’s population is already in the U.S. and they are here because they have to be.

“The situation on the ground in Haiti is a disaster,” he said.

He said he believed the bill to be a temporary measure to give Haiti a chance at stability and the U.S. a chance to decide on longer-term solutions for the population.

• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.