Haitians with temporary protected status gain more time to reregister

With a deadline looming, Haitian citizens living in the United States through the Temporary Protected Status program got an 11th-hour reprieve from losing that status – and their jobs.

On Thursday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that current TPS beneficiaries from Haiti now must reregister by March 19. That will allow them to maintain that status through the program’s termination date of July 22, 2019.

Reregistration procedures, including how to renew employment authorization documentation, have been published in the Federal Register and on uscis.gov/tps.

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Previously, advocates for the affected Haitians said federal bureaucratic delays were preventing them from properly reregistering with the government before their current status was to expire, on Jan. 22.

Before the government's time extension, Lee Health, one of Southwest Florida's largest employers, had notified an undisclosed number of its Haitian employees that, if they couldn’t renew their work authorizations, Lee Health and other employers with Haitian TPS enrollees on staff are required by law to terminate their employment.

“We are very pleased that the federal government is extending work authorization for our team members and other Haitians in our community,” said Mary Briggs, Lee Health spokeswoman.

The extended time to re-enroll, however, doesn’t change the reality that TPS is scheduled to end in less than 18 months, said Adonia Simpson, Miami-based director of the Family Defense program at Americans for Immigration Justice.

“A majority of people will re-enroll, because they want to work lawfully,” Simpson said.

She urges TPS enrollees to consult an immigration attorney about their options.

“A lot of individuals can find an alternative (to stay here). People need to do that now.”

Her team did a free information program for Lee Health employees late last year. The medical field – and hospitals and nursing homes in particular – “are going to take a big hit if people can’t find a way to stay here legally,” Simpson said.

The future also is murky for Haitian workers here under the H-2A and H-2B visa programs.

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The Reuters news service earlier this week reported the Department of Homeland Security said it was removing Haiti from lists of more than 80 countries whose citizens can be granted H-2A and H-2B visas for seasonal work in agriculture and other industries.

Supporters of the visas and the TPS program said they gave Haitians a rare opportunity to work legally in the United States, contribute to the U.S. economy, and help fund the recovery of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people.

In Southwest Florida agriculture, “we’ve seen a big increase in the number of Haitians in the labor force,” said Gene McAvoy, LaBelle-based Hendry County Extension director.

“It once was a rarity. Now some crews are 50 percent Haitian. With fewer people coming from Mexico, Haitians have taken up some of the slack,” McAvoy said.

The hospitality industry also depends heavily on internationals to fill many lower-paying jobs that U.S. citizens don’t want, said Keith Overton, St. Petersburg-based president of TradeWinds Island Resorts.

Overton serves on the boards for the American Hotel & Lodging Association and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.

He said his company hasn’t employed people with the H-2B visa the last two years because “the government limited the number (of visa holders) that can come in.”

Instead, the resorts have recruited holders of J-1 visas that allow bearers to stay in the United States temporarily for work- and study-based exchange visitor programs.

What country the workers hail from is less important than securing enough workers, particularly during Florida’s winter season when some hotel occupancies are in the upper-90-percent range.

Said Overton: “We can’t get enough workers. We have to have foreign workers.”