SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Haiti remains severely devastated by the 
combined effects of an ongoing food crisis and the 
aftermath of the natural disasters of 2008, including 
Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna, and Hurricanes 
Gustav and Ike. 
(2) In Haiti, nearly 800 people died as a result 
of the tropical storms and hurricanes in 2008. 
(3) The United States Agency for International 
Development estimates that 35,000–40,000 people 
remain homeless across the country and over 
100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed as a re-
sult of the storms. 
(4) When the storms hit, Haiti was already 
struggling to deal with a food crisis that led to dead-
ly riots and the removal of the country’s Prime Min-
ister. 
(5) Despite President Pre´val’s popular internal 
and international support, his nascent democratic 
government still faces immense political and institu-
tional challenges, including a sharp increase in com-
mon crime, especially kidnappings which continue to 
plague the capital and other cities and regions, and 
the rebuilding of Haiti’s police and judicial institu-
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tions to achieve the fair and prompt tackling of this 
ongoing political and criminal violence. 
(6) A July 2008 report by the United Nations 
Mission to Haiti found that Haitian children remain 
the target of kidnappings, killings, sexual violence, 
and child trafficking and have been active partici-
pants in recent public protests. It also found that 
children comprise more than one in three kidnapping 
victims. 
(7) As of April 2008, the Department of State 
maintains a travel warning to United States citizens 
warning them of the absence of an effective police 
force in much of Haiti; the potential for looting; the 
presence of intermittent roadblocks set by armed 
protestors or by the police; and the increased possi-
bility of random violent crime, including kidnapping, 
carjacking, home invasion, armed robbery and as-
sault. The warning states that kidnapping remains 
a serious threat, with more than 14 American citi-
zens kidnapped over the past year in crimes marked 
by deaths, brutal physical and sexual assault, and 
shootings. 
(8) As of April 2008, the Department of State’s 
Travel Warning states that ‘‘U.S. Embassy per-
sonnel are under an embassy-imposed curfew and 
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must remain in their homes or in U.S. government 
facilities during the curfew. Some areas are off-lim-
its to embassy staff after dark, including downtown 
Port-au-Prince. The embassy limits (restricts) travel 
by its staff to some areas outside of Port-au-Prince 
due to prevailing road and security conditions. This 
may constrain our ability to provide emergency serv-
ices to U.S. citizens outside of Port-au-Prince.’’ 
(9) While United States policy advises Ameri-
cans that current conditions make it unsafe to travel 
to Haiti, the same conditions make it dangerous and 
inappropriate to forcibly repatriate Haitians at this 
time. 
(10) Recent devastating environmental disasters 
from which Haiti has not recovered, continuing vio-
lence, and unstable political conditions pose a seri-
ous threat at this time to the personal safety of any-
one forcibly repatriated to Haiti. 
(11) The Haitian government’s ability to pro-
vide basic governmental services—clean water, edu-
cation, passable road and basic healthcare—has been 
severely compromised by the natural disasters and 
food crisis in 2008. Repatriating Haitians exposes 
them to these dangerous conditions, while imposing 
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an additional burden on government resources that 
are already stretched too thin. 
(12) Haiti’s recent political and civil crises; and 
the extraordinary and temporary conditions caused 
by nature, including hurricanes and tropical storms, 
floods, epidemics, homelessness, death and the bury-
ing of Haiti’s fourth largest city, Gonaives, easily 
make Haitian nationals currently in the United 
States eligible for temporary protected status under 
subparagraphs (B) and (C) of section 244(b)(1) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (‘‘TPS’’). 
(13) Moreover, there is a well-documented his-
tory of discrimination against Haitian nationals in 
the United States immigration process. 
(14) Temporary protected status grants tem-
porary protection from deportation to nationals of a 
country in which environmental or political events 
have occurred which make it temporarily unsafe to 
deport them. TPS has been granted to nationals of 
many countries including those of Nicaragua and 
Honduras in 1999 following Hurricane Mitch, and 
of El Salvador in 2001 following severe earthquakes. 
(15) TPS would help protect United States bor-
ders by preserving remittances sent by potential de-
portees. Haitian immigrants in the United States 
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remit about $1 billion annually to Haiti. These re-
mittances vastly outweigh, in dollar value, United 
States foreign aid to Haiti, and are crucial to Haiti’s 
recovery from the separate and combined effects of 
years of severe environmental disasters, paralyzing 
political turmoil, violence, and institutional failure. 
(16) Granting Haitians TPS would also directly 
assist Haiti’s nascent democracy in its efforts to re-
cover from these conditions, stabilize the country’s 
economy, rebuild its political and economic institu-
tions, and provide a future of hope for Haiti’s peo-
ple. 
(17) On February 7, 2008, Haitian President 
Rene´ Pre´val wrote to President George W. Bush for-
mally requesting TPS, making Haitians currently in 
the United States eligible for TPS under subpara-
graph (B) of section 244(b)(1) of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act. 
(18) On October 3, 2008, President Pre´val re-
newed his request for TPS during the closing ad-
dress of the Americas Conference, stating that Haiti 
is no longer able to receive the deported individuals 
that the United States sends to Haiti on a regular 
basis. 
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