MIAMI (WSVN) – As the fate of those living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, remains up in the air, the local Haitian community came together to push local leaders to support legislation that would protect them.<\/p>\n
The rally began Thursday afternoon at the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami\u2019s Little Haiti neighborhood, where many among the Haitian community pleaded for local leaders to begin taking measures to protect TPS recipients after a Supreme Court ruling in June<\/a> allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disasters in Haiti and Syria.<\/p>\n The 6-3 decision allows the Trump administration to revoke TPS from nearly 350,000 Haitian nationals and about 6,000 Syrians that live in the United States.<\/p>\n Rallygoers were pushing for local leaders to support a measure being considered in the U.S. Senate that would extend TPS for both Haitians and Syrians.<\/p>\n Some local leaders spoke at the rally, drumming up support in the community for that measure. They also reiterated that, in their belief, the decision to revoke TPS would not only massively impact the lives of those who benefitted from it but would also devastate sectors of South Florida\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n 7News spoke with Santra Dennis, one of the event organizers for Thursday\u2019s rally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re here today because we know that TPS holders make our economy run here in South Florida. We know they are our neighbors, they are our family and friends and, because of the Supreme Court\u2019s recent ruling clearing the way for what we would think is mass deportations, we wanna show solidarity, show love and also that they\u2019re not the only ones that will be impacted \u2014 we will be impacted as well,\u201d said Dennis.<\/p>\n Organizers hope the renewed calls to extend TPS push elected officials to take actions that would help protect the immigration status of hundreds of thousands of people who have relied on that status to provide for their families.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m standing here for those TPS holders who are too afraid to be here for themselves to remind the American people, to remind South Florida, our friends and neighbors and colleagues that these people with TPS status, yes, it means temporary protected status, they have been here, living, working in the United States legally,\u201d said Gepsie Metellus, another rally organizer.<\/p>\n