Ten House Republicans side with Democrats to extend deportation protections for 350,000 Haitians

Ten House Republicans broke with their party Thursday and voted alongside Democrats to pass a bill extending Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitian nationals, a direct challenge to the Trump administration's effort to end the program and resume deportations.

The measure passed the House 220, 207, the Daily Caller reported, with the GOP defectors providing the margin Democrats needed. The vote came less than two weeks after a Haitian illegal immigrant fatally attacked a woman with a hammer at a Fort Myers, Florida, gas station, a killing that had drawn national attention and a formal press release from the Department of Homeland Security.

The timing alone tells the story. On April 3, DHS said Rolbert Joachin repeatedly struck the woman in the head with a hammer at a Fort Myers gas station. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assisted local police in tracking Joachin down and arresting him. Thirteen days later, a Republican-controlled House voted to keep hundreds of thousands of Haitian TPS holders in the country.

Who crossed the line

Breitbart identified the ten Republicans who voted with Democrats on final passage: Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Lawler, Don Bacon, Maria Salazar, Carlos Gimenez, Nicole Malliotakis, Rich McCormick, Mike Turner, Mike Carey, and Mario Diaz-Balart. Independent Kevin Kiley of California also voted in favor.

Before the final vote, a resolution to bring the bill to the floor passed with the help of seven Republican defectors. That earlier procedural vote advanced 219, 209, according to social media posts embedded in the Daily Caller's coverage. By the time the full vote arrived, three more Republicans had joined the other side.

The Washington Examiner noted that several of the defecting members represent districts with large Haitian populations or have taken moderate positions on immigration. The Examiner described the vote as a three-year TPS extension that passed 224, 204, a figure consistent with the social media tallies cited by the Daily Caller.

Rep. Mike Lawler posted on X that he was "proud to join a bipartisan effort" alongside Reps. Gillen, Ayanna Pressley, and Whip Katherine Clark, among others. He said the group was "moving forward with a discharge petition", a procedural tool that bypasses leadership to force a floor vote.

The case for defection, and its limits

Lawler's stated rationale centered on his district's workforce. He told Newsmax that he has "one of the largest Haitian populations in the country" in his district and warned that ending TPS "without addressing work authorization" would "cause a huge crisis in our healthcare system, especially in an area like mine, where a lot of our Haitian TPS holders are nurses."

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis offered a similar argument, telling the Washington Examiner that nursing homes in her district "will lose skilled and dedicated nursing staff if TPS is not renewed."

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar wrote on X that she has been "one of the strongest voices fighting for TPS protections for Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti," adding: "Because the reality is clear. They cannot safely return home."

These are real workforce concerns. But they sit uneasily next to the broader question the vote raises: whether a Republican majority should be using its power to shield a population from enforcement actions the administration has pursued through lawful channels, especially when the Supreme Court is about to weigh in.

A sharp backlash from the right

Conservative members did not mince words. GOP Texas Rep. Brandon Gill gave a statement to the Daily Caller framing the vote as a capitulation on the party's core promise.

"The American people resoundingly reject mass migration, and it's time for Congress to listen to them. We must reject any form of amnesty. If we reward illegal immigration, we only incentivize more illegal immigration. It's time for Congress to put our people first."

Gill also told Breitbart that "Temporary Protected Status metastasized into a permanent amnesty program for unvetted foreigners", a charge that captures the frustration many conservatives feel about a program originally designed as a short-term measure.

Republican Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles was blunter. He told the Daily Caller that "TPS for Haitians is a national betrayal" and vowed he would "never be an amnesty Republican."

"I will never be an amnesty Republican, and I will spend every day of my career in Congress destroying their aims to crush our sovereignty."

Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde went further, tying the vote to the broader DIGNIDAD Act, a bill that some Republican members have backed and that critics describe as a mass amnesty vehicle. Clyde told the Daily Caller:

"Shielding TPS-holding Haitian illegals is an unthinkable betrayal of the American people. These are some of the very same Republicans pushing for mass amnesty under the so-called DIGNIDAD Act. Our House Republican Conference must be united in delivering an America First immigration agenda, which includes rejecting safe havens for illegal aliens, whether through a Democrat discharge petition or a bill named in a foreign language."

The reference to "a bill named in a foreign language" was a pointed jab at the DIGNIDAD Act's branding, and at the Republican members who have embraced it.

This is not the first time a handful of GOP members have broken ranks to undermine the administration's agenda. Earlier this year, six House Republicans sided with Democrats to gut Canada tariffs, drawing a direct rebuke from the White House.

An administration that noticed

One unnamed administration official responded to the vote with a statement to the Daily Caller that did not spare the defectors. The official pointed to the Fort Myers killing and the vote's timing, saying that "the blood from this woman's skull had barely dried in the cracks of the Florida pavement before pro-amnesty Republicans began marching over her grave in an effort to keep these 'doctors and lawyers' in our streets."

The official also put a number on the scale of the policy: roughly 350,000 Haitian TPS holders, "an average of 18 per city."

Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, commenting to the Daily Caller on why some members might have crossed over, suggested electoral calculation. "I think you probably have some Haitians in your district that vote," he said, before adding that some lawmakers "honestly just have a real dislike for this country in a little bubble."

The internal friction within the Republican conference over immigration enforcement has been a recurring theme. The House Freedom Caucus has clashed with Senate Republicans over DHS funding and enforcement priorities, accusing moderates of watering down Trump-aligned commitments.

The legal backdrop

The House vote did not happen in a vacuum. The Trump administration moved in late 2025 to terminate Haiti's TPS designation, setting a February 3 end date. But a federal district court in Washington, D.C., blocked the termination in early February 2026, ruling it was likely unlawful. The D.C. Circuit later upheld that injunction.

The Supreme Court then granted expedited review. Oral arguments in Trump v. Miot, consolidated with Mullin v. Doe, are set for April 29, the last day of the Court's April argument session. Until the justices rule, the lower court's stay remains in effect, meaning Haitian TPS protections and work authorization continue regardless of what Congress does.

That legal reality makes the House vote partly symbolic, but symbolism matters in Washington. The bill sends a signal to the Supreme Court, to the Senate, and to the administration about where a slice of the Republican conference stands on enforcement. And it hands Democrats a bipartisan talking point on an issue where the GOP base expects unity.

Sen. Bernie Moreno moved quickly to shut down any expectation the bill would advance further. "The Senate will not expand TPS," he said, according to Breitbart. "The House's bill is an insult to the millions of people patiently waiting in line."

Just The News described the vote as "a notable rebellion from moderate Republicans over the Trump administration's immigration policy." That framing is generous. A rebellion implies a cause. What happened Thursday looked more like ten members choosing constituent politics over a party promise, while the rest of the conference, and the administration, watched.

The Daily Caller reached out to Florida Reps. Greg Steube and Byron Donalds for comment but did not receive responses before publication.

What comes next

The bill's path forward is narrow. Moreno's statement suggests the Senate will not take it up, and the administration has shown no interest in signing a measure that contradicts its own enforcement posture. The real action now shifts to the Supreme Court and the April 29 arguments.

But the damage within the Republican conference is already done. Ten members, some from swing districts, some with large immigrant populations, some who have aligned with the DIGNIDAD Act, chose to stand with Democrats on the single issue where the GOP base demands the most discipline. They did it days after a high-profile killing that put TPS and Haitian immigration squarely in the national spotlight.

The administration has previously shown it is willing to pressure its own party members who break ranks on legislative priorities. Whether these ten face real consequences, in primaries, in committee assignments, or in White House relations, remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the broader pattern of crossover votes on immigration and enforcement continues to test Republican unity at the worst possible time, with the Supreme Court watching, midterms approaching, and voters paying close attention to who keeps their word.

Voters sent a Republican majority to Congress to enforce the border and end the abuse of temporary programs that became permanent. Ten members just told those voters they had other priorities.