A rally outside Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody's Miami office at 9130 S. Dadeland Blvd. this week put pressure on Moody and fellow Sen. Rick Scott to respond to the end of Haitian temporary protected status, as advocates warn that Haitian families across Florida are losing work authorization and face deportation. The demonstration also underscored the gap between congressional calls for a legislative solution and the senators' lack of publicly outlined policy changes.
Advocates Say Moody Is Sitting on the Sidelines
The Florida Immigrant Coalition and allied groups organized the rally and livestreamed it on the coalition's Facebook page, according to WLRN. Tessa Petit, the coalition's executive director, said Haitian communities are living in fear and criticized Moody for not taking a more active role as Haitian Floridians confront the loss of status. Petit also said Haitian families are seeing jobs disappear as deportation flights leave for Haiti.
Activists urged Moody to oppose deportations of Haitian TPS holders to Haiti and support S. 4814, a Senate bill that would reinstate residency status for Haitians and create a permanent path to U.S. citizenship. According to the WLRN report, advocates said Moody and Scott have expressed empathy for Haitian TPS holders but have not identified specific policy changes. Moody said in July 2026 that she had met with Trump administration officials about reviewing TPS holders' situations case by case, while Scott said Congress needs to address the broader immigration system to help Haitian TPS holders.
A Bill That Passed the House but Stalled in the Senate
The Senate measure has a companion that already cleared the House. As LeadingAge reported, the U.S. House passed H.R. 1689 on April 16, 2026, by a 224–204 vote to protect Haitian TPS holders through January 2029, after advocates forced a floor vote using a rare discharge petition — with at least 11 House Republicans joining Democrats to support it. Miami-area members of Congress helped push that discharge petition earlier this year.
The Senate version, S. 4814, has not fared as well. LeadingAge also reported that on June 22, 2026, Sen. Ed Markey tried to fast-track the bill through a unanimous consent request, but Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri objected, blocking the measure. That procedural roadblock has left the bill stalled in the Senate ever since, according to WLRN.
Nearly 158,000 Floridians Lost Status
The stakes for Florida are steep. A U.S. Supreme Court legal battle enabled the ending of TPS for about 350,000 Haitians nationwide, per WLRN's reporting, including roughly 158,000 in Florida — most of whom live in South Florida. The Trump administration has been deporting hundreds of Haitian immigrants since the status lapsed, and Hoodline previously reported that an ICE flight carrying 161 deportees landed in Cap-Haïtien in August.
Miami activists say the TPS holders losing their status have lived, worked, paid taxes, raised families, and built communities across Florida, directly affecting the healthcare, hospitality, tourism, and home care industries. The Home Care Association of Florida has separately warned that Florida ranks 50th nationally in home health aide availability, with just 16 aides per 1,000 seniors, amplifying concerns over losing Haitian workers statewide. In South Florida, Jewish Community Services terminated 18 Haitian home health aides — some with more than 20 years of experience — who had cared for roughly 400 Holocaust survivors, according to the association.
What the TPS termination means for workers
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Haiti's TPS designation terminated on July 27, 2026. Employment authorization documents issued to Haiti TPS beneficiaries under categories A12 or C19 are no longer valid, meaning affected workers cannot rely on those documents for employment authorization. The loss of work authorization has particular significance for Florida's healthcare system. WUSF reported that the Florida Health Care Association estimates 35,000 Haitian immigrants work in the state's healthcare system, including many certified nursing assistants and registered nurses in long-term care.
Conditions in Haiti Remain Dire
The push to protect TPS holders comes against a grim backdrop in Haiti itself. WLRN reported that more than 3,050 people were killed in Haiti from January through June of this year, and that gangs control an estimated 70% of the capital and swaths of the central region, displacing nearly 1.5 million people. More than half of Haiti's nearly 12 million residents need humanitarian assistance, per the same report.
The U.S. State Department reissued a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti in July, citing rampant violent crime and kidnappings, along with an FAA prohibition preventing U.S. commercial carriers from flying into Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Department of State. That warning stands in sharp contrast to the deportation flights federal authorities have continued sending into the country.
Billboards and a Senate Race Raise the Stakes
The Florida Immigrant Coalition and its allies have also launched a billboard campaign calling on Moody and Scott to protect Haitian immigrants who lost TPS, including one billboard on the I-4/Selmon Expressway connector in Tampa and another on I-95 in Miami, according to WLRN. The campaign follows a July National Day of Action that drew local elected officials and advocates to Miami's Little Haiti Cultural Center, as Florida Politics reported.
Moody was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2025 after Marco Rubio left to become Secretary of State, and she is now defending that seat in a competitive November 2026 special election against Democratic nominee Angie Nixon. Advocacy groups including the Haitian Bridge Alliance have estimated that Haitian TPS holders contribute $2.6 billion annually to Florida's economy, a figure the Home Care Association of Florida cites as evidence of the broader fallout facing the state's economy if the labor shortage worsens.
