Pastors in Florida’s capital city are asking elected officials to reinstate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week the federal government could end the program.
At Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in downtown Tallahassee on Wednesday afternoon, Rev. Dr. RB Holmes Jr. and nine other pastors called on Gov. Ron DeSantis, Congress and U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody to protect Haitians who previously held TPS status and allow them to stay in the country.
“The Supreme Court has spoken wrongly, we speak righteously,” Holmes said. “We must not deport Haitians. We must open our hearts and embrace them.”
The court ruling found the Trump administration could end TPS for both Haitian and Syrian nationals. The TPS program, which has allowed immigrants to remain in the U.S. if the federal government determined it wasn’t safe to return to their home country, covers 11 countries. As of 2025, 1.3 million people in the U.S. have been granted TPS.
Holmes has been an outspoken critic of DeSantis during his administration. Last year, the pastor was named the Faith Leadership Chair for Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly.
In a letter sent to both Moody and Scott, Holmes asked them to consider legislation to protect Haitian TPS holders. As of Wednesday afternoon, Holmes said he had not spoken with them or received a response.
He also asked elected officials to consider a pathway to citizenship, calling out Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his work on immigration reform.
Rubio, who represented Florida in the U.S. Senate for 14 years, was part of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight,” who at one time worked on legislation to create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
“But he lost his voice, and he lost his way, may God bless him,” Holmes said.
Haitian-born Rep. Bernie Jacques, R-Seminole, argued TPS should be temporary, as it’s the first word in the name of the program.
Jacques, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1994, said the Trump administration has “every right” to end TPS.
“A nation of laws cannot allow a temporary program to turn into a permanent program when it was never intended to be one,” Jacques told the News Service of Florida.
Other Republican lawmakers, however, have spoken out against the changes to TPS, including U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Miami, who said ending TPS for Haitians would be a “huge mistake.”
“When there’s good cause for it, it needs to be granted, and I think there’s a good argument for the people of Venezuela and the people of Haiti,” Gimenez said.
TPS was enacted by Congress in 1990 and allows the federal government to determine if citizens of another country fleeing due to a natural disaster, war or other “temporary” condition can remain in the U.S.
The TPS designation for Haiti began in 2010, during President Barack Obama’s administration, after an earthquake killed more than 300,000 people in the Caribbean island nation.
According to the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, 93,000 Haitians with TPS currently work in the state.
–Ana Goñi-Lessan, News Service of Florida
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