'We celebrate, but we do not stop:' Advocates vow to keep fighting after Haiti TPS ruling

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Feb 3, 2026

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Haitian advocates and Democratic lawmakers in Florida said Tuesday that while they welcome a federal judge’s ruling Monday night to pause the end of temporary immigration protections for more than 300,000 Haitians, they will keep fighting “until protection turns into permanence.”

“We celebrate, but we do not stop,” said Nancy Metayer Bowen, the vice mayor of Coral Springs and a vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party, speaking at a news conference. “What we need are real pathways to citizenship for people who work hard, pay taxes and follow the rules.

“Today we breathe, tomorrow we organize, and tomorrow we keep moving.”

Metayer Bowen, a first-generation Haitian American and the first Black woman of Haitian descent elected to the Coral Springs City Commission, was joined on the call by Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, and Daniel Henry, a party vice chair who is also of Haitian descent.

“Our country is in chaos right now,” Fried said. “We’ve got neighbors that are scared to leave their homes, families that refuse to send their kids to school, all because of the terror that we’re seeing in our communities across this country, and one of those issues is right here in the state of Florida.”

Of the more than 300,000 Haitians who held temporary protected status, or TPS, as of last year, according to the Department of Homeland Security, at least 158,000 of them were residents of Florida. More than 93,000 are part of the workforce, contributing billions of dollars annually in local and national taxes.

Many businesses in eldercare, hospitality and construction were bracing for the loss of workers, who despite Monday’s reprieve are still not out of danger. DHS has signaled its intent to appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes in the case brought by five Haitians with TPS.

In her remarks, Fried noted that many of the Haitian TPS holders have been in the United States for years. “Ending TPS for our Haitian neighbors is not just cruel; it’s inhumane, knowing what is happening back on the island itself, knowing that Haiti is ... being run by gangs, political violence,” she said.

Metayer Bowen said the Trump administration’s decision was not about rule of law but about “political theater” and “cruelty.”

“Today, cruelty lost,” she said. “America has long claimed to be a beacon of hope for people fleeing violence, persecution and instability. TPS is one of the ways this country has honored that promise; ending it would have forced families to make the impossible choices, choices no parent would ever want to face.”

She and other advocates say that at least 50,000 U.S.-born children depend on at least one Haitian parent on TPS, and ending their ability to work legally would have pushed at least half of those children into poverty.

“This is not policy; this is punishment, and today that punishment was stopped,” Metayer Bown said.

“This needs a full stop.”

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