{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pressley.house.gov/2026/08/31/haiti-caucus-co-chairs-pressley-and-clarke-condemn-deportation-and-dehumanization-of-haitian-nationals/", "Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Pressley and Clarke Condemn Deportation and Dehumanization of Haitian Nationals", "2026-08-31", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Ayanna Pressley", "P000617", "pressley.house.gov", "pressley", "https://pressley.house.gov/news/", "scraper", "Over 350,000 Haitian Nationals at Risk of Job Loss and Deportation\n\n\u201cThere is no excuse for treating our neighbors with such contempt\u2026We call upon the Senate to immediately take the long overdue step of passing our legislation to restore TPS for Haiti. The lives of Haitians and Americans alike are at stake.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 Today, Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Co-Chairs of the House Haiti Caucus, issued the following statement:\n\n\u201cToday, thousands of Haitians are in chains because Donald Trump decided their lives are a crime. They broke no laws, yet that did not stop the Trump Administration from forcing them into the grips of Haiti\u2019s violent gangs and instability. The Trump Administration has declared Haiti unsafe to travel to, and in recent days alone, gang massacres have left dozens dead, more have been kidnapped, and some of the Haitians this administration deported have already been killed.\n\n\u201cThe American people are sickened by the suffering and blatant targeting this administration has inflicted upon thousands of Haitian nationals, who contribute to our communities and whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was unjustly taken away. Instead of listening to the American people, the Trump Administration has doubled down on its cruelty. There is no excuse for treating our neighbors with such contempt.\n\n\u201cThe deportations of Haitian TPS holders may have only started weeks ago, but the vicious dehumanization of their communities began long before. Cruelty to Haitians is a policy choice. Congress has the power to stop it. We call upon the Senate to immediately take the long overdue step of passing our legislation to restore TPS for Haiti. The lives of Haitians and Americans alike are at stake.\u201d\n\nCongresswoman Pressley serves as Co-Chair for the House Haiti Caucus and represents one of the largest Haitian diaspora communities in the country. Residents of the 7th Congressional District of Massachusetts can contact Congresswoman Pressley\u2019s office for assistance. Please visit Pressley.House.Gov/TemporaryProtectedStatus for resources and more information.\n\nCongresswoman Pressley has been a leading voice in Congress pushing back against Trump\u2019s threats to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. She has stood in vigorous defense for Haitian communities and all immigrant neighbors amid Trump and ICE\u2019s attacks against immigrant communities.\n\nIn April 2026, Rep. Pressley secured a major victory in the House of Representatives, passing critical legislation to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti by a vote of 224-204. The effort, which Congresswoman Pressley championed through a bipartisan discharge petition, is a watershed moment in her years-long advocacy for Haitian communities and immigrant families and marks an essential step forward in the fight to defend Haitian nationals from deportation.\n\nIn August 2026, Rep. Pressley issued a statement denouncing the termination of TPS for Haiti and Syria and standing in vigorous support of TPS holders and their families.\n\nIn July 2026, Rep. Pressley alongside Congresswoman Laura Gillen, urged Senators to support legislation to extend Haiti TPS and protect the lives and livelihoods of Haitians and Americans alike.\n\nIn June 2026, Rep. Pressley commended Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and 16 other Senate colleagues, for introducing legislation to designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the Senate.\n\nIn June 2026, Rep. Pressley denounced the Supreme Court\u2019s devastating ruling to allow Trump\u2019s attempt to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians.\n\nIn June 2026, Rep. Pressley held a press conference outside of the Supreme Court with Senator Markey, other lawmakers, advocates, and impacted community members to highlight the catastrophic impact the termination of TPS would have on our communities, businesses, schools, care economy, and more.\n\nIn May 2026, Rep. Pressley, Senator Warren, and Senator Markey released a new investigative report revealing how President Trump\u2019s attempts to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti would devastate the health care, elder care, and disability care workforce, harm patients, and hurt communities.\n\nIn April 2026, Rep. Pressley held a press conference alongside colleagues and a coalition of seniors, care workers, advocates, and allies to demand the Supreme Court defend Temporary Protected Status (TPS).\n\nIn April 2026, Rep. Pressley, alongside Rep. Wasserman Schultz and Senators Ed Markey and Chris Van Hollen, led 26 Senators and 157 Representatives in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Miot v. Trump, a consolidated case challenging the Trump administration\u2019s unlawful termination of Haiti and Syria Temporary Protected Status (TPS).\n\nOn March 28, 2026, Rep. Pressley\u2019s discharge petition to force a House vote on extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti successfully met the 218-signature threshold to move forward with bipartisan support.\n\nIn March 2026, Rep. Pressley joined Haitian faith leaders and advocates to urge the Supreme Court to affirm the lower courts\u2019 rulings that deemed Trump\u2019s push to terminate Haiti TPS unlawful.\n\nIn February 2026, Rep. Pressley applauded a federal judge\u2019s ruling to temporarily block Trump\u2019s move to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. Ending TPS for Haitians would leave over 350,000 Haitian nationals at risk of deportation, many of whom reside in the Massachusetts 7th congressional district.\n\nIn January 2026, Congresswoman Pressley, alongside Senator Markey, held a field hearing on the importance of extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. She documented this testimony in the legislative record. Footage from the hearing is available here and photos here.\n\nIn January 2026, Rep. Pressley also organized a press conference in D.C. in January to sound the alarm on the harm of terminating TPS for Haiti on seniors and the U.S. care economy.\n\nOn June 28, 2025, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration\u2019s abominable termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti effective September 2nd, 2025.\n\nOn June 5, 2025, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) issued the following statement on Donald Trump\u2019s executive order that bans citizens of 12 countries, including Haiti, from traveling to the United States, and places partial restrictions on citizens of seven more nations.\n\nOn March 18, 2025, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (NY-09), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) led 62 of their colleagues in the House and 23 of their colleagues in the Senate in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding the Trump Administration redesignate and extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, which the administration recently canceled on questionable legal authority.\n\nOn February 20, 2025, Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Yvette Clarke (NY-12), and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration\u2019s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.\n\nOn April 23, 2024, Rep. Pressley, alongside Co-Chairs Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), led a group of 50 lawmakers urging the Biden Administration to redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), pause on deportations back to Haiti, extend humanitarian parole to any Haitians currently detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s detention centers, end detention of Haitian migrants intercepted at sea, and provide additional humanitarian assistance for Haiti.\n\nOn April 18, 2024, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs led a letter to House Ways and Means Committee leadership emphasizing support for the early renewal of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) and the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Acts, commonly known as HOPE/HELP.\n\nOn April 12, 2024, Rep. Pressley joined Haitian-led activists, organizations, and a directly impacted person in Haiti for a press call urging federal action to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Haiti.\n\nOn March 27, 2024, Rep. Pressley joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her colleagues on the Massachusetts congressional delegation in urging the Biden Administration to expedite visa processing for Haitians, particularly for relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.\n\nOn March 12, 2024, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Cherfilus McCormick and Yvette Clarke issued a statement on the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.\n\nOn March 6, 2024, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the recent jailbreak and State of Emergency in Haiti.\n\nOn December 8, 2023, Rep. Pressley and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke urged the U.S. Department of State to withdraw U.S. support for an armed foreign intervention in Haiti and encourage negotiations for a Haitian-led democratic political transition.\n\nOn December 6, 2022, Rep. Pressley issued a statement applauding the Biden Administration\u2019s extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.\n\nOn December 1, 2022, Rep. Pressley, Rep. Cori Bush, and Rep. Mondaire Jones led 14 of their colleagues on a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the Department to extend and redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).\n\nOn August 17, 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Val Demings, Yvette Clarke, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), called on President Biden to appoint a new Special Envoy to Haiti, a position that has remained unfilled since September 2021.\n\nOn May 31, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Reverend Dieufort Fleurissaint, chair of Haitian Americans United, published an op-ed in the Bay State Banner in which they called on the Biden administration to withdraw support for de facto ruler of Haiti, Ariel Henry, and instead support an inclusive, civil society-led process to restore stability and democracy on the island.\n\nOn May 26, 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with Representatives Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Andy Levin (MI-09), Jim McGovern (MA-02), and Frederica Wilson (FL-24), led a letter to United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Power urging her to act to ensure food security in Haiti.\n\nIn February 2022, Reps. Pressley, Judy Chu (CA-27), and Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (NY-07) led 33 other House Democrats on a letter to CDC Director Walensky demanding answers about the agency\u2019s justification for treating asylum seekers as a unique public health threat, how these expulsions are being coordinated, how asylum seekers being returned to dangerous situations are being cared for, and more. Days later, Rep. Pressley once again called on the Biden Administration to reverse the Title 42 Order and other anti-Black immigration policies.\n\nOn March 16, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Mondaire Jones called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky to fully end Title 42, cease deportations of people to Haiti and affirm their legal and fundamental human right to seek asylum.\n\nOn February 16, 2022, Rep. Pressley joined Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and 100 House and Senate colleagues in urging President Biden to reverse inhumane immigration policies \u2013 such as Title 42, originally introduced under the Trump Administration \u2013 that continue to disproportionately harm Black migrants.\n\nOn February 14, 2022, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), alongside Representatives Judy Chu (CA-27) and Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (NY-07), led 33 other House Democrats on a letter to Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding answers about the agency\u2019s justification for treating asylum seekers as a unique public health threat, how these expulsions are being coordinated, how asylum seekers being returned to dangerous situations are being cared for, and more.\n\nIn April 2022, she joined her colleagues at a press conference reaffirming her support for President Biden\u2019s decision to end Title 42. Full video of her remarks at the press conference is available here. Rep. Pressley applauded the Biden Administration\u2019s end of Title 42 in a statement in April 2022.\n\nIn September 2022, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Vel\u00e1zquez led 54 of their colleagues on a letter calling on the Biden Administration to immediately halt deportations to Haiti and provide humanitarian parole protections for those seeking asylum. The lawmakers\u2019 letter followed the Administration\u2019s resumption of deportation flights to Haiti as thousands of Haitian migrants continue to await an opportunity to make an asylum claim at the border.\n\nIn September 2022, Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues on the House Oversight Committee in demanding answers regarding the inhumane treatment of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, by Border Patrol agents on horseback and pushing to Biden Administration to end the ongoing use and weaponization of Title 42.\n\nOn July 7, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Andy Levin (MI-09), Val Demings (FL-10) and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) released a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Mo\u00efse.\n\nOn November 21, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren led the Massachusetts congressional delegation on a letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) calling on them to coordinate with the government agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to assist newly arrived families from Haiti.\n\nOn October 18, 2021, Rep. Pressley, and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Val Demings (FL-10), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), and Andy Levin (MI-09) issued a statement following the kidnapping of American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti.\n\nOn October 18, 2021, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the civil rights complaint filed by Haitian families demanding a federal investigation into the heinous actions perpetrated by federal officials at the border.\n\nOn October 22, 2021, Rep. Pressley, along with Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), sent a letter to Troy A. Miller, the Acting Administrator of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), demanding a briefing and answers regarding press reports of the inhumane treatment of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, by Border Patrol agents on horseback.\n\nOn September 17, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Congresswoman Nydia M. Vel\u00e1zquez (NY-07) led 52 of their colleagues calling on the Biden Administration to immediately halt deportations to Haiti and take urgent action to address the concerns of the Haitian Diaspora after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti.\n\nOn August 14, 2021, Rep. Pressley Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Andy Levin (MI-09) and Val Demings (FL-10) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17) released a statement regarding the recent earthquake in Haiti.\n\nOn July 14, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Andy Levin (MI-09) and Val Demings (FL-10) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling on him to take a series of steps to support the Haitian diaspora amid ongoing political turmoil in Haiti.\n\nIn July 2021, the Reps. Pressley, Clarke, Demings and Levin issued a statement condemning the assassination of President Mo\u00efse and calling for swift and decisive action to bring political stability and peace to Haiti and the Haitian people.\n\nIn May 2021, on Haitian Flag Day, Reps. Pressley, Levin, Clarke and Demings announced the formation of the House Haiti Caucus, a Congressional caucus dedicated to pursuing a just foreign policy that puts the needs and aspirations of the Haitian people first.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-01T09:48:49Z", "2026-09-01T09:49:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pressley.house.gov/2026/08/31/haiti-caucus-co-chairs-pressley-and-clarke-condemn-deportation-and-dehumanization-of-haitian-nationals/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.897713031619787, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}