ORLANDO, Fla. — A Supreme Court decision on Thursday paved the way to end Temporary Protected Status for thousands of people from Syria and Haiti is expected to create life-altering situations for people across the nation, including right in Central Florida.
TPS provides legal temporary immigration status for people seeking asylum from designated countries due to specific conflict, disasters or other conditions.
Some Central Floridians said TPS has served as a saving grace for many people from Haiti and Syria for nearly two decades.
“Temporary Protected Status is not for no reason. It’s because there’s real need, and we can step in and help as neighbors in the world, as a place that can be a place of safety for people,” Sarah Robinson said.
Robinson is the founder of the Faith Leader Network with the Immigrants are Welcome Here Coalition.
“It’s not just our neighbors that came here yesterday. These are neighbors that came here via a legal process, be out of need because of things going on, where they grew up, where they are from,” Robinson said.
Some groups, like the Immigrants Are Welcome Here Coalition, are willing to help TPS recipients now at risk of deportation with securing assets they have, like businesses, homes and more, in the event they must leave the country.
Nattacha Wyllie established the Haitian American Art Network in 2007 to create a space for Florida’s Haitian community, one of more than half a million people according to World Population Review. That list shows Florida being the state with the largest Haitian population.
“Affected is not even the word anymore. Devastated. Frustration. Anger. I can’t blame them,” Wyllie said. “TPS recipients started for the Haitian community since 2010 after the earthquake.”
Wyllie said that for the 350,000 Haitian TPS recipients in the U.S., this news will alter so many lives and will consequently affect the national workforce.
“Some left the country with nothing, and then they have built (a life) here in America. Some children (were) born here. Once you deport their parents, where are they going? Who are they going to stay with?” Wyllie said. “So, you’re going to take them in the system? I just hope that the government, the American government, my American government, understands and knows what they are really doing to think about the children, their parents.”
She added that the after-effects of potential deportations of TPS recipients due to the Supreme Court ruling will have a lasting impact on the nation’s workforce.
“It won’t be just the Haitians with TPS recipients. It’ll be all of us American citizens, because right here in Orlando, the hospitality industry, the food industry, health care industry, lots and lots of Haitian workers,” Wyllie said.
Last October, the Supreme Court ruled to terminate the 2023 Venezuela TPS designation. Some organizations in Central Florida, like the Hispanic Federation, are calling for TPS to be re-designated to Venezuelans affected by two earthquakes that hit the nation this week. According to the Associated Press, more than 900 people were killed in Wednesday’s earthquakes.
“When we think about TPS… it was created for countries and people who cannot return to their country due to natural disasters. It could be violence and political collapse, things like that,” Laudi Campo said.
Laudi Campo is the Florida State Director for the Hispanic Federation
“We are, also, very disappointed with what happened with the Haitians and Syrians yesterday,” Campo said. “Authorized workers (turned) into undocumented immigrants to no fault of their own.”
The Hispanic Federation, in light of the recent earthquakes in Venezuela, announced a $100,000 Emergency Relief Fund called “Ayuda a Los Pueblos” to support Venezuelans.
The organization is also partnering with AID for Life, a Venezuelan service provider, to provide one the ground assistance.
“They have been suffering for years because of the political collapse in their countries, and now a disaster,” Campo said. “So why not help in the Venezuela community? A community and country that has given us many amazing people that lives around us.”