I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 522 
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 17, 2007 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, 
Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. WATERS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. JACK-
SON-LEE of Texas, Ms. LEE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SERRANO, 
Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. GONZALEZ) 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 sec-
tion. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haitian Protection Act 
of 2007’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Haiti remains severely devastated by the 
combined effects of ongoing political turmoil and the 
aftermath of the natural disasters of 2004, such as 
Tropical Storm Jeanne and Hurricane Ivan. 
(2) In Haiti, more than 2,500 people died as a 
result of Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004. 
(3) The civil protection agency of Haiti stated 
that 250,000 people were homeless across the coun-
try and at least 4,000 homes were destroyed, with 
thousands more damaged, as a result of the storm. 
(4) When Tropical Storm Jeanne hit, Haiti was 
already struggling to deal with political instability 
and the aftermath of serious floods from a heavy 
rain on May 26, 2004, which killed over 3,000 peo-
ple. 
(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-
tions to achieve the fair and prompt tackling of this 
ongoing political and criminal violence. 
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(6) 
On 
Thursday, 
December 
21, 
2006, 
UNICEF issued a statement condemning the in-
creased kidnappings of children in Haiti. 
(7) As of January 2007, 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 gangs or by the police; and the possibility 
of random violent crime, including carjacking and 
assault. The warning states that kidnapping for ran-
som remains a serious threat, with more than 50 
American citizens, including children, kidnapped 
over the past year. 
(8) As of January 2007, the Department of 
State’s Consular Information Sheet states that 
‘‘United States Embassy personnel are under an em-
bassy-imposed curfew and must remain in their 
homes or in United States government facilities dur-
ing the curfew. The embassy has limited travel by its 
staff outside of Port-au-Prince and therefore its abil-
ity to provide emergency services to United States 
citizens outside of Port-au-Prince is constrained’’. 
(9) While United States policy advises Ameri-
cans that current conditions make it unsafe to travel 
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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 
disrupted by the violent overthrow of the constitu-
tional government in 2004. Repatriating Haitians 
exposes them to these dangerous conditions, while 
imposing an additional burden on government re-
sources that are already stretched too thin. 
(12) Haiti’s recent political, civil, and govern-
mental crises; and the extraordinary and temporary 
conditions caused by nature, including floods, 
epidemics, homelessness, death and the burying of 
Haiti’s fourth largest city, Gonaives, easily make 
Haitian nationals currently in the United States eli-
gible for temporary protected status under subpara-
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graphs (B) and (C) of sections 244(b)(1) of the Im-
migration 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 
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 
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economy, rebuild its political and economic institu-
tions, and provide a future of hope for Haiti’s peo-
ple. 
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEM-
PORARY PROTECTED STATUS TO HAITIANS. 
(a) DESIGNATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 244 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1254a), Haiti shall be treated as if such country had 
been designated under subsection (b) of that section, 
subject to the provisions of this section. 
(2) PERIOD OF DESIGNATION.—The initial pe-
riod of such designation shall begin on the date of 
enactment of this Act and shall remain in effect for 
18 months. 
(b) ALIENS ELIGIBLE.—In applying section 244 of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a) 
pursuant to the designation made under this section, and 
subject to subsection (c)(3) of such section, an alien who 
is a national of Haiti is deemed to meet the requirements 
of subsection (c)(1) of such section only if the alien— 
(1) is admissible as an immigrant, except as 
otherwise provided under subsection (c)(2)(A) of 
such section, and is not ineligible for temporary pro-
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tected status under subsection (c)(2)(B) of such sec-
tion; and 
(2) registers for temporary protected status in 
a manner that the Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall establish. 
(c) CONSENT TO TRAVEL ABROAD.—The Secretary 
of Homeland Security shall give the prior consent to travel 
abroad described in section 244(f)(3) of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(3)) to an alien 
who is granted temporary protected status pursuant to the 
designation made under this section, if the alien estab-
lishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Homeland Se-
curity that emergency and extenuating circumstances be-
yond the control of the alien require the alien to depart 
for a brief, temporary trip abroad. An alien returning to 
the United States in accordance with such an authoriza-
tion shall be treated the same as any other returning alien 
provided temporary protected status under section 244 of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a). 
Æ 
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