![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Sen_Moody_TPS_LETTER.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Community leaders and immigration advocates gathered Wednesday morning outside Sen. Ashley Moody\u2019s downtown Orlando office to urge Moody and Sen. Rick Scott to support legislation extending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and to call for a halt to deportations to Haiti.<\/p>\n
The Immigrants Are Welcome Here Coalition said the termination of TPS for Haitians is affecting families and workers across Florida. The group asked the senators to co-sponsor Senate Bill 4814, which would extend protections through early 2029.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust give us a chance,\u201d said Marie G. Joseph, a Haitian national, during the gathering.<\/p>\n
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is granted by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to eligible foreign nationals whose home countries are unsafe to return to because of armed conflict, natural disasters or other crises. TPS for Haiti was officially terminated on July 27.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here today not only as an advocate, but as a Haitian national,\u201d said Hedder Pierre Joseph, a member of Immigrants Are Welcome Here.<\/p>\n
Yamina Sfiat, with the Central Florida Latino Action Network, said more than 150,000 Haitians in Florida have been affected by the loss of TPS. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not just numbers. They are our nurses, our CNAs, our teachers and construction workers,\u201d Sfiat said. \u201cThey are part of every facet of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the U.S. Census, Central Florida is home to more than 47,000 Haitians, including more than 37,000 living in Orange County.<\/p>\n
Leaders with the tourism workers union Unite Here Local 737, which represents Haitian workers in Central Florida, said ending TPS could affect the local workforce, including employees in tourism, hospitality, health care and construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who work on theme parks. Like people that work at the hotel, that clean rooms. People that work in the restaurant. Those are the people that we represent,\u201d said Isaie Marc, an organizer for Unite Here Local 737. \u201cBut Haitian workers are in the medical field also like nurses, construction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marc said TPS holders who have lived and worked in the U.S. for years should have a path to citizenship.<\/p>\n
\u201cTPS is temporary. We know that,\u201d Marc said. \u201cBut there (are) people that have been here for years that work that they can have family. Give them the opportunity to become citizens. Give them the path to become citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advocates also raised concerns about conditions at an ICE detention facility in Orlando and called for steps to end what they described as inhumane conditions there.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 4814 was introduced on June 17, read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.<\/p>\n
Moody has not made recent public statements about TPS, but she sent a letter to members of the coalition saying in part: \u201cWe are the most generous country in the world when it pertains to allowing people to come here legally, but Americans deserve an immigration system that secures our borders, protects our communities, and strengthens our nation.\u201d The letter then says: \u201cI will keep your thoughts in mind as I consider relevant legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sen. Ashley Moody’s full letter on TPS.<\/p>\n
Advocates also called for an immediate halt to deportations to Haiti, citing ongoing violence in the country. The U.S. Department of State currently has a Level 4 \u201cDo Not Travel\u201d advisory for Haiti because of the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest and limited health care.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they come here, they feel they\u2019re safe, they stay, they work, they do everything they can,\u201d said Marie G. Joseph, a Haitian national. \u201cInstead of sending them to Haiti. You can buy them a casket, put them in a casket and bury them. Because as soon as they got there, they\u2019re not going to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the news conference, the group walked to the entrance of Moody\u2019s office to hand-deliver a petition related to TPS protections for Haiti.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 13 reached out to the offices of Moody and Scott for comment but has not heard back.<\/p>\n
The group also asked Moody to condemn and take steps to end the inhumane conditions at an ICE facility in Orlando being used as a detention center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Community leaders and immigration advocates gathered Wednesday morning outside Sen. Ashley Moody\u2019s downtown Orlando office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4318,3140,274,2204,2287,766,115,1053,1335,139,141,140,278,2032,835],"class_list":["post-409044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-top-stories","tag-instagram-n13","tag-local-politics","tag-massiel-leyva","tag-news","tag-orange","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-top-stories","tag-trending-topics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}