Press Releases

Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration's decision designating Haitians ineligible for H-2A and H-2B visas:

"With his administration's decision to designate Haitians ineligible for H-2A and H-2B visas, President Donald Trump has once again demonstrated that he is both a racist and a hypocrite. This determination was reported on the very day that the president, in an interview with Reuters, said that he ‘loves the people' of Haiti, which is the antithesis of what he said last week about their country and African nations. No one who truly cares about Haiti and its people would ever approve of such an unnecessary act of unkindness.

"The number of Haitian nationals who enter the United States each year on visas that allow them to perform low-skilled, seasonal work is negligible, but the impact is priceless because it enables people whose lives were upended by the 2010 earthquake to earn money to send back home, helping their families and Haiti's economy. These temporary visa holders also help boost the economies of the states in which they work.

"We all know that President Trump hasn't the slightest clue about what it would be like to live in a country devastated by national disasters with no idea where the next meal is coming from or how to pay for it. But one should not have to experience poverty to sympathize with those who live in it each and every day.

"President Trump did note in his Reuters interview that Haitians are "very hard-working," which is true. With these temporary visas, they willingly come to the United States to toil at jobs that Americans are often unwilling to even consider. Denying the visas will not only hurt the people applying for them but also the American farmers and other business owners who depend on their labor to get food and other products in stores and on our tables. This move is not only just plain mean, it is senseless."