Four House Republicans signed a petition to force a vote on a resolution to oppose President Donald Trump’s efforts to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants.
The discharge petition introduced by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., passed the 218 signature threshold needed to bring it to the House floor on Friday thanks to Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash. Four Republicans joined on to Pressley’s effort: Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Don Bacon, R-Neb., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn.
“I’m just elated,” Pressley said in a Saturday video statement. “This is just such a reminder of the power of organizing.”
“I’m just so proud of the broad coalition that made this possible,” Pressley continued. “The 350,000 Haitian nationals that call this country home are so deserving.”
Pressley introduced the resolution in response to the Trump administration‘s move to end Haitian’s TPS status by executive order. A federal court, however, has prevented the executive order from taking effect.
The petition will force a vote on her resolution directing the Department of Homeland Security to allow Haitian immigrants to qualify for TPS in the coming weeks.
Salazar’s Amnesty
Salazar, one of the four Republicans who signed Pressley’s petition, has historically been an advocate of a new legal immigration system.
The Florida congresswoman currently has a bill in the House that would offer amnesty to illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for more than five years.
Salazar’s legislation, called the Dignity Act, would also give permanent legal status to Dreamers and DACA recipients.
“Individuals will remain protected from deportation and will have access to full work authorization, the ability to live in the U.S., and travel authorization outside the U.S.,” the representative wrote in a press release.
Pressley’s petition is not the first immigration-related discharge petition that Salazar has signed on to. In February, she signed a discharge petition introduced by Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., which would force a vote on his legislation, called the Venezuela TPS Act of 2025, to designate Venezuela as a country eligible for asylum seeking.
Salazar is also a co-sponsor of the legislation Soto wants to bring to the floor using a discharge petition.
Soto introduced the petition following the U.S. military’s capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Salazar signed the petition in February and claimed in a press release published by Soto that “until conditions meaningfully improve, we must uphold our commitment to those we granted Temporary Protected Status while ensuring strong criminal vetting measures remain in place.”
“This discharge petition is about doing the right thing, pushing Congress to act and stand on the side of those who fled repression and instability,” Salazar added.
Fitzpatrick’s Advocacy for Pathway to Legal Status
In addition to cosponsoring Salazar’s Dignity Act, Fitzpatrick has sought to captivate the president’s attention on ways to “reform our broken immigration system.”
In July of 2025, Fitzpatrick and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., wrote a letter to Trump to formally request a meeting where the three could discuss ways to proceed with the “modernization of our legal immigration system.”
“We are writing to request a meeting with you to discuss three issues where we see both the opportunity and the need for comprehensive bipartisan solutions: immigration, permitting reform, and the national debt,” the letter reads.
In January, the two representatives sent another letter to the president asking him to renew their request for “an immediate meeting,” where they could share their bipartisan approach to “fix the broken asylum system” and “provide legal protection to millions of immigrants.”
A press release from Fitzpatrick’s 2020 re-election campaign states that “we [the United States] must find the compromise that both secures our borders and protects our Dreamers.”
“To support one without the other is to support neither,” the press release added.
Lawler’s Legal Immigration Push
Lawler has also signed on to Republican amnesty efforts.
Lawler cited employment, family reunification, and “America’s legacy of being a nation of immigrants” when he joined Salazar in introducing the Dignity Act in June 2025.
“In conversations across NY-17, I’ve heard a lot of frustration, both from employers struggling to fill jobs and families looking to reunite with their loved ones,” Lawler’s press release read. “We must do this by fixing our broken legal immigration system, securing our borders, and creating a fair, earned process for those who are already here and contributing.”
Lawler advocated for the Dignity Act in an opinion piece for The New York Times.
“After tensions have calmed, Congress can then piece together the rest of an immigration plan that settles the issue.” Lawler wrote in the wake of immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Lawler also suggested that Congress could build on Trump’s border policies and create “a realistic plan” to “provide a path to legal status — not citizenship — for long-term illegal immigrants without criminal records.”
“This path would be rigorous and fair, and it would aim to keep families together. Fair means those who benefit would face mandatory work requirements, forgo public assistance, and pay fines and any back taxes they might owe,” Lawler added.
Bacon’s Opposition to Trump
Bacon, one of the other four Republicans to sign onto Pressley’s petition this month, has repeatedly opposed Trump’s immigration and foreign policy moves.
In January, after Trump hinted at taking control of Greenland, Bacon told the press that some Republicans would consider impeaching him if he followed through with his plan.
“I’ll be candid with you: There are so many Republicans mad about this,” Bacon told the Omaha World-Herald. “If he went through with the threats, I think it would be the end of his presidency. And he needs to know: The off-ramp is realizing Republicans aren’t going to tolerate this, and he’s going to have to back off. He hates being told no, but in this case, I think Republicans need to be firm.”
Bacon has also expressed his strong opposition to Trump’s musings about withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“If he broke up NATO on his own, it would be a civil war in the Republican caucus, or the conference,” Bacon told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “Most of us would find that totally unacceptable, and I’m not alone.
