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The House has passed a bill to extend temporary deportation protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians living in the US.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a federal designation that allows foreign nationals from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other unsafe conditions to live and work in the US without fear of deportation. Haitians were first granted TPS in 2010 following a devastating earthquake that killed over 200,000 people, and the program was extended by every subsequent administration (until Trump moved to terminate it last year, citing US “national interests”). A federal judge blocked his move, and the issue is set to be litigated at the Supreme Court later this month. Right now, Haiti is struggling with gang violence that has left the country’s capital controlled by various gangs (over 60% of Port-au-Prince is under gang control).

What’s going on now: Lawmakers passed an extension of TPS for Haitians through 2029 on Thursday in a 224-204 vote, with 11 Republicans breaking ranks to vote alongside all Democrats. The vote was forced using a discharge petition (a procedural tool that bypasses House Republican leadership by collecting 218 signatures). Representative Ayanna Pressley, who led the effort, argued that one in four long-term healthcare workers in the US are Haitian and that stripping their protections would devastate the caregiving sector.

Republican supporters framed their votes around both humanitarian and economic concerns. “Sending people back to Haiti to unsafe conditions when they are currently here lawfully is unjust and unwise,” said New York Republican Mike Lawler. “The State Department itself says that Haiti is unsafe for Americans to travel to, which is in complete contradiction with the Department of Homeland Security saying it is safe for Haitian immigrants to return.”

Republican opponents pushed back hard, with Florida’s Randy Fine calling the program “a scam” and saying the only discharge petition he would support is “the one that discharges all of these people back to Haiti.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, where its path is unclear. Even if it passes, Trump has vowed to veto it, and a two-thirds majority in both chambers would be needed to override him.

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