Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) posted a short video on April 15, 2026, discussing a new bill that was voted on by the House of Representatives that, if passed, would result in illegal alien Haitians living in the United States to be granted legal status. Burchett expressed frustration with the bill in general, but especially with the six Republicans who also voted in favor of it.
“Hey everybody. Tim Burchett, leaving the House floor. Three bills, two of no real significance. The third, unbelievably, was a Democrat motion to provide legal status to illegal immigrant Haitians who are already in the United States,” Burchett said at the beginning of the video. “So if you have illegal Haitians here, we’re going to allow them to stay.”
He then went on to reveal a number of Republicans sided with Democrats on the legislation. “You can pretty much guess, but go ahead and look them up anyway. Unbelievable. This is one time I’m glad for inaction in the Senate. That’s what we’ve become. We gotta, we gotta clean this mess up over here anyway. Thank y’all for sending me here. We’ll keep fighting,” Burchett concluded.
According NBC News, the House voted 219-209 to force a vote on the bill with the support of the following six Republicans: Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos A. Gimenez of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Don Bacon of Nebraska and Reps. Mike Lawler and Nicole Malliotakis of New York. The bill was brought forward through a discharge petition by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who serves as the co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus.
Pressley won a key procedural vote to advance to a final vote, which is scheduled for April 17, 2026. The legislation is seeking to grant Temporary Protected Status to eligible Haitian immigrants for a period of three years, according to the report. “This is a critical step forward in our fight for immigrant justice and delivering our Haitian neighbors the protections they deserve—and it’s a testament to the strength of our broad, diverse, and bipartisan coalition,” Pressley went on to say in a statement.
The bill was first introduced into the House in 2025 by Reps. Laura Gillen (D-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY). “The State Department claims it is too dangerous for American citizens to go to Haiti because of kidnapping, gang violence and widespread chaos, but yet, the administration has said it’s safe for Haitians to return there,” Gillen stated during comments delivered on the House floor.
She added that “removing our neighbors would not just be a humanitarian catastrophe; it would hurt our economy,” going on to state that Haitian immigrants “work in critical sectors like health care, education, caregiving, supporting our elderly and working in local hospitals.” For those unfamiliar with what Temporary Protected Status is, it allows foreign nationals from countries that are facing war, environmental disasters or other unsafe conditions to live and work in the U.S. for a specified period of time.
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“Removing TPS status for Haitians living in the United States would cost 350,000 workers their ability to work at a time when we’re already facing serious workforce shortages,” Republican Rep. Don Bacon stated in a post on X. “I don’t see the goodness of deporting people who are here legally, working, and contributing to our country.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video