January 27, 2025

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Haitian TPS Holders Generate 5.9 Billion for the U.S. Economy Annually   

Boston, MA — FWD.us, UndocuBlack Network, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance released a new factsheet further demonstrating that Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is not only lifesaving for American families but vital to the U.S. economy and the fabric of American communities. More than 300,000 Haitian TPS holders and their families could face upheaval as early as February 3, when a federal judge will decide whether TPS protections remain in place during ongoing litigation. Even if a stay is granted, the administration could seek emergency Supreme Court review—just as it did in the Venezuelan TPS case. A similar outcome for Haitian TPS holders and their communities would be devastating. 

The key findings in the new fact sheet show what we have always known: TPS holders are deeply rooted in their families, communities, and the economy. Stripping away these protections will not only put hundreds of thousands of lives at risk, but it will also diminish the very workforce and families that strengthen America. 

“Haitian TPS holders contribute nearly $6 billion annually to the U.S. economy and over $1.5 billion in taxes, and terminating protections would destabilize essential workforces, strain local systems, and harm U.S. citizen children,” said Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director of UndocuBlack Network. “Efforts to roll back Haiti TPS reflect long-standing anti-Black disparities in immigration policy and threaten the economic stability of families and communities that this country relies on every day. There is still time to stop it.” 

“TPS is non-negotiable because it is a lifeline,” said Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. “We cannot force people to return to a burning home. Ending TPS would force families into impossible choices, push U.S. citizen children into poverty and without parents, and send people back to conditions that clearly violate both the law and basic human dignity. The data makes clear what our communities have long known: protecting TPS is not only the lawful decision—it is the moral and economic one.”

“Revoking TPS protections is not just cruel; it is economic self-sabotage that will rip billions out of the U.S. economy and destabilize communities nationwide. Haitian TPS holders contribute nearly $6 billion a year to the economy, pay over $1.5 billion in taxes, and fill essential jobs in healthcare, transportation, food service, and manufacturing,” said Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us. “For decades, presidents from both parties have used TPS to protect families and strengthen communities, and keeping these protections in place is not only the right thing to do, it is smart economic policy and unequivocally good for America.”

Key Findings of the Fact Sheet:

• Haitian TPS holders generate an estimated $5.9 billion for the U.S. economy each year and annually pay $805 million in federal and payroll taxes and $755 million in state and local taxes. 
• 200,000 Haitian TPS holders are already in the U.S. workforce, working in critical industries, including 15,000 agricultural workers, 13,000 nursing assistants, 8,000 caregivers, and more. 
• There are 50,000 U.S. citizen children who have at least one parent who is a Haitian TPS holder. If TPS is terminated, an estimated  25,000 of them would be pushed into poverty when Haitian TPS holders lose work authorization. 

Temporary Protected Status was created to keep families safe and together when their home countries are ravaged by war, disaster, or deep instability. For more than two decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have extended these protections on the basis of broad agreement on two points: the critical role TPS holders play in our communities and workforce, and the clear danger of returning individuals to countries still facing serious instability. Haiti remains in crisis, with widespread violence and mass displacement still ongoing. The in-country conditions clearly meet the legal standard for maintaining TPS, making any preemptive effort to revoke these protections a clear violation of the TPS statute. 

Read the fact sheet HERE. 

The report is part of FWD.us’ initiative to protect America’s workforce.

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Haitian Bridge Alliance advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black people, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses.

About FWD.us: FWD.us is a policy organization working to advance better and more politically resilient solutions on criminal justice and immigration. For too long, our harmful criminal justice and immigration systems have held us back and been weaponized in ways that undermine our nation’s promise and democratic ideals. For over a decade, FWD.us has advanced criminal justice and immigration reforms that expanded freedom and opportunities to tens of millions of people in the United States. Working with partners in red, blue, and purple jurisdictions, we have secured legislative and judicial victories and executive actions despite often-challenging political conditions.