Amid a wintry chill and the roar of jet engines, unionized workers staged an emotional but orderly march Wednesday past the airline terminals that are their workplaces at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, as they became advocates for halting a Trump Administration move that would strip Haitian migrants of protections that allow them to live the United States.
“Extend! TPS!” nearly 100 workers chanted as they walked past travelers who were customers of Spirit Airlines, JetBlue, Airways, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines, among others.
An estimated 150 Haitians work in various airport roles at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, union officials said. Next Wednesday, their authorizations to work and live in South Florida through Temporary Protection Status granted years ago are scheduled to expire on the orders of the Trump Administration.
Members of the Service Employees International Union 32BJ, SEIU 1199, and UNITE HERE keep terminal areas and aircraft interiors clean, sell retail items at stores, pilot wheelchairs for disabled travelers and work at nearby hotels. Others provide home care for the elderly or toil at nursing homes.
During the march and at a rally in an airport conference room, many carried signs declaring, “Protect Workers. Protect Families. Protect TPS,” and “Extend Haitian TPS.”
The union advocates received a lift Wednesday from appearances in an airport conference room by Broward County Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. They focused their attention on a petition to force a vote for a measure in the House of Representatives in Washington that would keep TPS for Haitians.
Wasserman Schultz referred to the U.S. State Department’s “Level 4” travel warning to Americans that they should not travel to the Caribbean country “under any circumstances.”
“That is the message being sent to Americans,” said Wasserman Schultz, pledging to back the effort to ensure that Haitians can remain in the U.S. and out of reach of the dangers in Haiti. “So how is it possible for the Department of Homeland Security under Donald Trump and Kristie Noem for them to suggest that conditions have improved enough for TPS to be revoked and for Haitians to return to their country?”
“That is absolutely not possible,” she said. “It is unacceptable that we would send people who have helped make sure our country can grow and thrive, who have U.S. citizen children, who run small businesses, who have contributed to our society — how can we send them back to danger, to violence, sexual assault, and kidnapping for ransom? Is that an acceptable situation for anyone?”
“No!” the crowd responded.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz gives an interview on Wednesday during a news conference and candlelight vigil at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport urging the Trump administration to extend Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants. TPS for Haitian immigrants ends on Feb. 3, and organizers point to the U.S. government’s own warnings about the dangers of traveling to Haiti. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Cherfilus-McCormick, who is of Haitian descent, noted TPS workers are “hard-working people” whose loss would be catastrophic for the region’s economy.
She noted that emergency workers, doctors and airport workers are among the 350,000 Haitians who would be designated for deportation if their protections were revoked.
“That would be economic sabotage,” she argued. “You will see so many people who would not be able to fill these jobs. Have 350,000 people been trained for these jobs? Has there been money for 350,000 job training skills? So how can we assume that exporting all of these people will create all of these jobs for people who haven’t been trained?”
A quick campaign
Rally organizers urged the workers to contact their representatives in Washington and urge them to keep the protections in place.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Massachusetts is leading an effort that requires 218 votes to pass — including four from Republicans.
Last week, Pressley, co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, announced a “discharge petition” that could compel the House vote on a bill to require the Trump Administration to extend TPS for Haitians for three years.
Thousands at risk
Pressley estimated the loss of TPS would place more than 350,000 Haitian nationals at risk of deportation.
At the Broward County airport Wednesday, union officials estimated there are 100,000 Haitians living in South Florida who are in jeopardy.
The Broward congresswomen, union leaders and workers all emphasized the risks of forcing Haitians to return to a failed Caribbean nation where gangs control neighborhoods and governing institutions have collapsed.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick speaks in support of extending Temporary Protection Status for Haitians in South Florida and around the U.S. She said the “export” of 350,000 Haitians back home would lead to a large labor deficit in the economy. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“My aunt has TPS and has lived and worked here for years. We are the only family she has,” said Michelle Pierre, a 32BJ SEIU airport worker. “The U.S. government is telling Americans not to travel to Haiti because it’s not safe. I don’t understand why her life and the lives of thousands of other Haitians who’ve built their lives and families here don’t matter.”
She told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that Haitians who return home from the United States are often ostracized as outsiders who are undesirable.
Kenson Louis, a UNITE HERE Local 355 hospitality worker at the airport, said safety does not exist in Haiti.
“I came to Miami years ago from Haiti with my wife and two kids because it was no longer safe to live there. The same situation exists today,” he said. “Ending TPS will be devastating to so many families. We work extremely hard to greet travelers arriving to South Florida. We will not stand by and watch our co-workers, friends, neighbors, get treated like animals. We are here to call for a permanent solution and extension of TPS.”
“If Haiti had the peace, stability, security, jobs, housing, and good governance that every Haitian dreams of, it would not have been a problem for me to go back to my country,” added Farrah Larrieux, 47, a TPS holder and chair of the Miramar-based Haitian-American Residents and Business Owners Association.
“But this is not the case,” she added. “Why does Trump have such disregard for people’s lives?”
Haitian entrepreneurs with successful businesses also stand to suffer significant economic losses, Larrieux told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
In an interview, she said a Haitian client of her communications firm faces an enormous economic loss. As the head of a million-dollar insurance company in Jacksonville, she said, he employs upwards of 100 people.
Unionized workers including airport, nursing home and hotel employees march past a terminal at Fort Laudeerdale-Hollywood International Airport on Wednesday to urge the extension of Temporary Protection Status for Haitian immigrants in South Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)