Advocates Rally at Sen. Moody's Palm Beach Gardens Office, Urging Support for Haitian TPS Extension

About two dozen immigrant rights advocates and faith leaders gathered Tuesday outside the Palm Beach Gardens office of Republican Sen. Ashley Moody. They called on her to support Senate Bill S. 4814, which would extend Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, for Haitians by three years.

The rally took place across the street from the office at 4822 Northlake Boulevard. It was one of a series of nationwide actions organized by a network of advocacy groups as part of BAJI's Protect Black Migrants Week of Action.

Paul Christian Namphy, who leads the Miami-based nonprofit Family Action Network Movement, said organizers want to protect immigrant workers who keep local healthcare and service industries running. He said lawmakers' failure to act makes them complicit in what he described as the destruction of the community and the separation of families. "But also it's a stab in the back of the entire Florida economy," he told WLRN.

If passed, S. 4814 would extend protections for Haitian nationals who face forced return amid worsening gang violence, political turbulence and economic devastation in Haiti. The legislation is currently stalled in the U.S. Senate.

The rally follows a summer court victory for the Trump administration in its effort to end TPS for roughly 350,000 Haitians, who now lack permission to live and work in the country. Florida is especially affected, with 158,000 TPS recipients, most of them in South Florida.

Activists and human rights groups warn that Haiti, and its capital Port-au-Prince in particular, is too dangerous and lacks the resources to take in deported people. Politically backed gangs, often linked to corrupt politicians and financial sponsors, control about 70% of the capital and large parts of the central region. According to the United Nations, political violence has displaced a record 1.5 million people and killed more than 3,000 in the first six months of this year. More than half of the population needs humanitarian assistance amid deepening poverty and hunger.

Namphy criticized Florida's federal lawmakers for not championing protective legislation while work authorizations and driving privileges are being taken away. He said the state's senators "should have been the first to co-sponsor or sponsor S-4814" and pointed to a "deafening silence" as the administration cancels work authorizations, deports community members and removes driving privileges.

Moody and fellow Republican Sen. Rick Scott have expressed sympathy for Haitian TPS holders, but neither has proposed concrete policy changes. In late July, Moody told Miami's WPLG Local 10 that she had discussed reviewing TPS status on a "case-by-case basis" with Trump administration officials.

The rally came during a critical stretch before next week's election, in which Moody faces Democratic challenger Angie Nixon for the U.S. Senate seat. Demonstrators noted that Nixon has publicly pledged to support S. 4814 if elected. Organizers, who are backing Nixon, described the event as an act of civic accountability. "We believe that it is our duty to do everything that we can to inform the voters about the stakes and to inform our community members about how they can best protect themselves," Namphy said.