I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 144 

To designate Haiti under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality 

Act in order to render nationals of Haiti eligible for temporary protected 

status under such section. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. WEXLER, 

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, 

Ms. NORTON, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. 

HONDA, and Mr. HINCHEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To designate Haiti under section 244 of the Immigration 

and Nationality Act in order to render nationals of Haiti 

eligible for temporary protected status under such section. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haitian Protection Act 

5 of 2009’’. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
2 

•HR 144 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Haiti remains severely devastated by the 

4 combined effects of an ongoing food crisis and the 

5 aftermath of the natural disasters of 2008, including 

6 Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna, and Hurricanes 

7 Gustav and Ike. 

8 (2) In Haiti, nearly 800 people died as a result 

9 of the tropical storms and hurricanes in 2008. 

10 (3) The United States Agency for International 

11 Development estimates that 35,000–40,000 people 

12 remain homeless across the country and over 

13 100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed as a re14 sult of the storms. 

15 (4) When the storms hit, Haiti was already 

16 struggling to deal with a food crisis that led to dead17 ly riots and the removal of the country’s Prime Min18 ister. 

19 (5) Despite President Pre ́val’s popular internal 

20 and international support, his nascent democratic 

21 government still faces immense political and institu22 tional challenges, including a sharp increase in com23 mon crime, especially kidnappings which continue to 

24 plague the capital and other cities and regions, and 

25 the rebuilding of Haiti’s police and judicial instituVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:54 Jan 09, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H144.IH H144

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
3 

•HR 144 IH

1 tions to achieve the fair and prompt tackling of this 

2 ongoing political and criminal violence. 

3 (6) A July 2008 report by the United Nations 

4 Mission to Haiti found that Haitian children remain 

5 the target of kidnappings, killings, sexual violence, 

6 and child trafficking and have been active partici7 pants in recent public protests. It also found that 

8 children comprise more than one in three kidnapping 

9 victims. 

10 (7) As of April 2008, the Department of State 

11 maintains a travel warning to United States citizens 

12 warning them of the absence of an effective police 

13 force in much of Haiti; the potential for looting; the 

14 presence of intermittent roadblocks set by armed 

15 protestors or by the police; and the increased possi16 bility of random violent crime, including kidnapping, 

17 carjacking, home invasion, armed robbery and as18 sault. The warning states that kidnapping remains 

19 a serious threat, with more than 14 American citi20 zens kidnapped over the past year in crimes marked 

21 by deaths, brutal physical and sexual assault, and 

22 shootings. 

23 (8) As of April 2008, the Department of State’s 

24 Travel Warning states that ‘‘U.S. Embassy per25 sonnel are under an embassy-imposed curfew and 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
4 

•HR 144 IH

1 must remain in their homes or in U.S. government 

2 facilities during the curfew. Some areas are off-lim3 its to embassy staff after dark, including downtown 

4 Port-au-Prince. The embassy limits (restricts) travel 

5 by its staff to some areas outside of Port-au-Prince 

6 due to prevailing road and security conditions. This 

7 may constrain our ability to provide emergency serv8 ices to U.S. citizens outside of Port-au-Prince.’’ 

9 (9) While United States policy advises Ameri10 cans that current conditions make it unsafe to travel 

11 to Haiti, the same conditions make it dangerous and 

12 inappropriate to forcibly repatriate Haitians at this 

13 time. 

14 (10) Recent devastating environmental disasters 

15 from which Haiti has not recovered, continuing vio16 lence, and unstable political conditions pose a seri17 ous threat at this time to the personal safety of any18 one forcibly repatriated to Haiti. 

19 (11) The Haitian government’s ability to pro20 vide basic governmental services—clean water, edu21 cation, passable road and basic healthcare—has been 

22 severely compromised by the natural disasters and 

23 food crisis in 2008. Repatriating Haitians exposes 

24 them to these dangerous conditions, while imposing 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
5 

•HR 144 IH

1 an additional burden on government resources that 

2 are already stretched too thin. 

3 (12) Haiti’s recent political and civil crises; and 

4 the extraordinary and temporary conditions caused 

5 by nature, including hurricanes and tropical storms, 

6 floods, epidemics, homelessness, death and the bury7 ing of Haiti’s fourth largest city, Gonaives, easily 

8 make Haitian nationals currently in the United 

9 States eligible for temporary protected status under 

10 subparagraphs (B) and (C) of section 244(b)(1) of 

11 the Immigration and Nationality Act (‘‘TPS’’). 

12 (13) Moreover, there is a well-documented his13 tory of discrimination against Haitian nationals in 

14 the United States immigration process. 

15 (14) Temporary protected status grants tem16 porary protection from deportation to nationals of a 

17 country in which environmental or political events 

18 have occurred which make it temporarily unsafe to 

19 deport them. TPS has been granted to nationals of 

20 many countries including those of Nicaragua and 

21 Honduras in 1999 following Hurricane Mitch, and 

22 of El Salvador in 2001 following severe earthquakes. 

23 (15) TPS would help protect United States bor24 ders by preserving remittances sent by potential de25 portees. Haitian immigrants in the United States 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
6 

•HR 144 IH

1 remit about $1 billion annually to Haiti. These re2 mittances vastly outweigh, in dollar value, United 

3 States foreign aid to Haiti, and are crucial to Haiti’s 

4 recovery from the separate and combined effects of 

5 years of severe environmental disasters, paralyzing 

6 political turmoil, violence, and institutional failure. 

7 (16) Granting Haitians TPS would also directly 

8 assist Haiti’s nascent democracy in its efforts to re9 cover from these conditions, stabilize the country’s 

10 economy, rebuild its political and economic institu11 tions, and provide a future of hope for Haiti’s peo12 ple. 

13 (17) On February 7, 2008, Haitian President 

14 Rene ́ Pre ́val wrote to President George W. Bush for15 mally requesting TPS, making Haitians currently in 

16 the United States eligible for TPS under subpara17 graph (B) of section 244(b)(1) of the Immigration 

18 and Nationality Act. 

19 (18) On October 3, 2008, President Pre ́val re20 newed his request for TPS during the closing ad21 dress of the Americas Conference, stating that Haiti 

22 is no longer able to receive the deported individuals 

23 that the United States sends to Haiti on a regular 

24 basis. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
7 

•HR 144 IH

1 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEM2 PORARY PROTECTED STATUS TO HAITIANS. 

3 (a) DESIGNATION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 244 

5 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

6 1254a), Haiti shall be treated as if such country had 

7 been designated under subsection (b) of that section, 

8 subject to the provisions of this section. 

9 (2) PERIOD OF DESIGNATION.—The initial pe10 riod of such designation shall begin on the date of 

11 enactment of this Act and shall remain in effect for 

12 18 months. 

13 (b) ALIENS ELIGIBLE.—In applying section 244 of 

14 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a) 

15 pursuant to the designation made under this section, and 

16 subject to subsection (c)(3) of such section, an alien who 

17 is a national of Haiti is deemed to meet the requirements 

18 of subsection (c)(1) of such section only if the alien— 

19 (1) is admissible as an immigrant, except as 

20 otherwise provided under subsection (c)(2)(A) of 

21 such section, and is not ineligible for temporary pro22 tected status under subsection (c)(2)(B) of such sec23 tion; and 

24 (2) registers for temporary protected status in 

25 a manner that the Secretary of Homeland Security 

26 shall establish. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
8 

•HR 144 IH

1 (c) CONSENT TO TRAVEL ABROAD.—The Secretary 

2 of Homeland Security shall give the prior consent to travel 

3 abroad described in section 244(f)(3) of the Immigration 

4 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(3)) to an alien 

5 who is granted temporary protected status pursuant to the 

6 designation made under this section, if the alien estab7 lishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Homeland Se8 curity that emergency and extenuating circumstances be9 yond the control of the alien require the alien to depart 

10 for a brief, temporary trip abroad. An alien returning to 

11 the United States in accordance with such an authoriza12 tion shall be treated the same as any other returning alien 

13 provided temporary protected status under section 244 of 

14 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a). 

Æ 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS