Press Release: 4/30/2026

ICYMI: Pressley Demands Supreme Court Defend Temporary Protected Status

 



Today, High Court Hears Oral Arguments in Trump Administration’s Effort to End TPS for Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and Other Nations in Crisis



House Recently Passed Pressley Petition to Extend Haiti TPS



Press Conference (YouTube)



WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) held a press conference alongside colleagues and a coalition of seniors, care workers, advocates, and allies to demand the Supreme Court defend Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Today, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in a case involving the Trump Administration’s efforts to end TPS for Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and other nations grappling with layered crises.



Earlier this month, the House adopted a discharge petition led by Congresswoman Pressley to extend TPS for Haiti for three years.




“TPS holders serve as a backbone for families and our economy—caring for our elders and loved ones through illness, strengthening our communities, and making innumerable contributions daily,” said Congresswoman Pressley in a statement. “That’s why we we’re using every tool available to defend Temporary Protected Status and affirm the dignity, humanity, and due process of our immigrant neighbors from Haiti, Venezuela, Syria, and other nations in crisis. Our message to the Supreme Court today is simple: do your job, uphold the law, save lives, and protect our communities. I’m grateful to my colleagues and our advocates for their ongoing partnership.”




Footage from the press conference is available here and a transcript of her remarks is available below.




Transcript: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Demands Supreme Court Defend Temporary Protected Status

House of Representatives

April 28, 2026



I’m grateful to be joined by incredible leaders and advocates in our fight to protect immigrant families. 



Thank you Senator Blunt Rochester, thank you Senator Markey, thank you Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, and to our movement siblings at Care for 



Seniors and Care for America for your partnership on this urgent priority. 



The fact that so many of you have made the trip to Washington, DC to join us in this fight is a testament to the strength of our movement.



I know that there are many at work who seek to, with each passing day, to advance a country where people are indifferent to the suffering of its neighbors, and each time we move in ways that are deeply empathetic and practice radical love and solidarity, we resist that force. So I thank you all for caring. 



We are here today in defense of our neighbors with Temporary Protected Status, who are deeply rooted in our communities and essential to our economy. In my opinion, they are already home. 



At this moment, over 1 million people are at risk of being removed from their homes, separated from their families, having their lives uprooted because of Trump’s cruel and unlawful attempt to terminate their Temporary Protected Status. 



Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on this critical case. We are demanding the Supreme Court uphold the law, save lives and protect our communities.



To send vulnerable families to countries like Haiti, Venezuela, and Syria that are enduring horrific humanitarian crises is unconscionable, shameful, unlawful, and preventable. 



I want to be clear, this is not an appeal for charity or even benevolence. This is simply the right thing to do, the smart thing to do, the responsible thing to do, but not from a place of generosity, but instead from a place of reciprocity. 



A strong, vibrant nation is what we owe to the TPS holders who make innumerable contributions to our communities daily. These are folks who have fled violence, who are patriots, who love this country, who take pride in their work, who have families and businesses, who have strengthened our communities. 



Many TPS supporters serve as backbones for families in need and a guide through our hardest of times. These are the people caring for parents and grandparents in the twilight of their lives, or supporting your loved ones through an illness. 



Let me be clear, an attack on TPS holders is an attack on all of us, and we won’t back down. We will be exhaustive in leveraging every tool available to safeguard TPS. 



Earlier this month, we built a broad, diverse, bipartisan coalition to force a vote in the House and pass legislation to extend TPS for Haiti for three years, that work continues. 



Today, we are pressing the Supreme Court to uphold the law. 



My colleagues and I filed an amicus brief urging the court to preserve TPS, to uphold the existing law for this necessary program. For months, we have uplifted the stories of the dedicated TPS holders who stand to be harmed and our communities who would suffer without them. 



Terminating TPS is not only bad policy that would have catastrophic consequences for our communities, our seniors and our economy. In this case, it is also unlawful. 



As I close, I’ll just share my own story. It’s not a unique one. This is deeply personal. It is not political. 



In the final weeks of my mother’s life and her CLL cancer battle, it was Haitian nurses, Haitian nurses who prayed over my mother, who sang songs to my mother, who oiled her scalp lovingly and braided her hair. 



Everyone who calls this country home benefits from TPS and stands to be harmed by this termination. 



So together, we will continue to defend our TPS holders and their families, to center their humanity and dignity and to fight for what is just. 



Thank you again to everyone who traveled to Washington to make the case directly to Congress and to the Supreme Court, our freedoms and our destinies are truly tied and it’s going to take every last one of us to get this done.




—



Immigrants make up roughly 28% of the U.S. direct care workforce and as many as one in three home care workers. Any loss of work authorization, advocates say, would disrupt continuity of care, intensify staffing shortages, and put the health, safety, and stability of millions of American families, many of whom also consider their caretakers family.





Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed Congresswoman Pressley’s bipartisan discharge petition by a vote of 220-207 to extend Haiti TPS for three years. Congresswoman Pressley won a key procedural vote on the discharge petition and managed debate on the House floor prior to the successful final passage vote. Last month, Rep. Pressley’s discharge petition successfully met the 218-signature threshold to move forward with bipartisan support—only the 15th discharge petition to do so in the last 40 years.



Congresswoman Pressley serves as Co-Chair for the House Haiti Caucus and represents one of the largest Haitian diaspora communities in the country. She has stood in vigorous defense for Haitian communities and all immigrant neighbors amid Trump and ICE’s attacks against immigrant communities.



Congresswoman Pressley has been a leading voice in Congress pushing back against Trump’s threats to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.



This week, Rep. Pressley, alongside Rep. Wasserman Schultz and Senators Ed Markey and Chris Van Hollen, led 26 Senators and 157 Representatives in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Miot v. Trump, a consolidated case challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful termination of Haiti and Syria Temporary Protected Status (TPS).



On March 28, 2026, Rep. Pressley’s discharge petition to force a House vote on extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti successfully met the 218-signature threshold to move forward with bipartisan support.



In March 2026, Rep. Pressley joined Haitian faith leaders and advocates to urge the Supreme Court to affirm the lower courts’ rulings that deemed Trump’s push to terminate Haiti TPS unlawful.



In February 2026, Rep. Pressley applauded a federal judge’s ruling to temporarily block Trump’s move to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. Ending TPS for Haitians would leave over 350,000 Haitian nationals at risk of deportation, many of whom reside in the Massachusetts 7th congressional district.



In January 2026, Congresswoman Pressley, alongside Senator Markey, held a field hearing on the importance of extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. She documented this testimony in the legislative record. Footage from the hearing is available here and photos here.



In January 2026, Rep. Pressley also organized a press conference in D.C. in January to sound the alarm on the harm of terminating TPS for Haiti on seniors and the U.S. care economy.




  • On June 28, 2025, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration’s abominable termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti effective September 2nd, 2025.

  • On June 5, 2025, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) issued the following statement on Donald Trump’s executive order that bans citizens of 12 countries, including Haiti, from traveling to the United States, and places partial restrictions on citizens of seven more nations.

  • On March 18, 2025,  Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (NY-09), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) led 62 of their colleagues in the House and 23 of their colleagues in the Senate in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding the Trump Administration redesignate and extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, which the administration recently canceled on questionable legal authority.

  • On February 20, 2025, Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Yvette Clarke (NY-12), and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.

  • On April 23, 2024, Rep. Pressley, alongside Co-Chairs Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), led a group of 50 lawmakers urging the Biden Administration to redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), pause on deportations back to Haiti, extend humanitarian parole to any Haitians currently detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention centers, end detention of Haitian migrants intercepted at sea, and provide additional humanitarian assistance for Haiti.

  • On April 18, 2024, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs led a letter to House Ways and Means Committee leadership emphasizing support for the early renewal of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) and the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Acts, commonly known as HOPE/HELP.

  • On April 12, 2024, Rep. Pressley joined Haitian-led activists, organizations, and a directly impacted person in Haiti for a press call urging federal action to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Haiti.

  • On March 27, 2024, Rep. Pressley joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her colleagues on the Massachusetts congressional delegation in urging the Biden Administration to expedite visa processing for Haitians, particularly  for relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

  • On March 12, 2024, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Cherfilus McCormick and Yvette Clarke issued a statement on the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

  • On March 6, 2024, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the recent jailbreak and State of Emergency in Haiti.

  • On December 8, 2023, Rep. Pressley and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke urged the U.S. Department of State to withdraw U.S. support for an armed foreign intervention in Haiti and encourage negotiations for a Haitian-led democratic political transition.

  • On December 6, 2022, Rep. Pressley issued a statement applauding the Biden Administration’s extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.

  • On December 1, 2022, Rep. Pressley, Rep. Cori Bush, and Rep. Mondaire Jones led 14 of their colleagues on a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the Department to extend and redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

  • On August 17, 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Val Demings, Yvette Clarke, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), called on President Biden to appoint a new Special Envoy to Haiti, a position that has remained unfilled since September 2021.

  • On May 31, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Reverend Dieufort Fleurissaint, chair of Haitian Americans United, published an op-ed in the Bay State Banner in which they called on the Biden administration to withdraw support for de facto ruler of Haiti, Ariel Henry, and instead support an inclusive, civil society-led process to restore stability and democracy on the island. 

  • On May 26, 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with with Representatives Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Andy Levin (MI-09), Jim McGovern (MA-02), and Frederica Wilson (FL-24), led a letter to United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Power urging her to act to ensure food security in Haiti.

  • In February 2022, Reps. Pressley, Judy Chu (CA-27), and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07) led 33 other House Democrats on a letter to CDC Director Walensky demanding answers about the agency’s justification for treating asylum seekers as a unique public health threat, how these expulsions are being coordinated, how asylum seekers being returned to dangerous situations are being cared for, and more. Days later, Rep. Pressley once again called on the Biden Administration to reverse the Title 42 Order and other anti-Black immigration policies.

  • On March 16, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Mondaire Jones called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky to fully end Title 42, cease deportations of people to Haiti and affirm their legal and fundamental human right to seek asylum.

  • On February 16, 2022, Rep. Pressley joined Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and 100 House and Senate colleagues in urging President Biden to reverse inhumane immigration policies – such as Title 42, originally introduced under the Trump Administration – that continue to disproportionately harm Black migrants.

  • On February 14, 2022, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), alongside Representatives Judy Chu (CA-27) and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), led 33 other House Democrats on a letter to Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding answers about the agency’s justification for treating asylum seekers as a unique public health threat, how these expulsions are being coordinated, how asylum seekers being returned to dangerous situations are being cared for, and more.

  • In April 2022, she joined her colleagues at a press conference reaffirming her support for President Biden’s decision to end Title 42. Full video of her remarks at the press conference is available here. Rep. Pressley applauded the Biden Administration’s end of Title 42 in a statement in April 2022.

  • In September 2022, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Velázquez led 54 of their colleagues on a letter calling on the Biden Administration to immediately halt deportations to Haiti and provide humanitarian parole protections for those seeking asylum. The lawmakers’ letter followed the Administration’s resumption of deportation flights to Haiti as thousands of Haitian migrants continue to await an opportunity to make an asylum claim at the border. 

  • In September 2022, Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues on the House Oversight Committee in demanding answers regarding the inhumane treatment of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, by Border Patrol agents on horseback and pushing to Biden Administration to end the ongoing use and weaponization of Title 42.

  • On July 7, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Andy Levin (MI-09), Val Demings (FL-10) and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) released a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

  • On November 21, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren led the Massachusetts congressional delegation on a letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) calling on them to coordinate with the government agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to assist newly arrived families from Haiti. 

  • On October 18, 2021, Rep. Pressley, and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Val Demings (FL-10), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), and Andy Levin (MI-09) issued a statement following the kidnapping of American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti.

  • On October 18, 2021, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the civil rights complaint filed by Haitian families demanding a federal investigation into the heinous actions perpetrated by federal officials at the border.

  • On October 22, 2021, Rep. Pressley, along with Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), sent a letter to Troy A. Miller, the Acting Administrator of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), demanding a briefing and answers regarding press reports of the inhumane treatment of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, by Border Patrol agents on horseback. 

  • On September 17, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07) led 52 of their colleagues calling on the Biden Administration to immediately halt deportations to Haiti and take urgent action to address the concerns of the Haitian Diaspora after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti.

  • On August 14, 2021, Rep. Pressley Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Andy Levin (MI-09) and Val Demings (FL-10) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17) released a statement regarding the recent earthquake in Haiti.

  • On July 14, 2021, Rep. Pressley and Haiti Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Andy Levin (MI-09) and Val Demings (FL-10) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling on him to take a series of steps to support the Haitian diaspora amid ongoing political turmoil in Haiti.

  • In July 2021, the Reps. Pressley, Clarke, Demings and Levin issued a statement condemning the assassination of President Moïse and calling for swift and decisive action to bring political stability and peace to Haiti and the Haitian people.

  • In May 2021, on Haitian Flag Day, Reps. Pressley, Levin, Clarke and Demings announced the formation of the House Haiti Caucus, a Congressional caucus dedicated to pursuing a just foreign policy that puts the needs and aspirations of the Haitian people first.