09/10/2026
An important letter from Archbishop Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to President Trump on the impossible situation facing many Haitians whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has now expired.
Let us pray for a resolution 🙏
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the USCCB, wrote to the President of the United states regarding the current situation facing many Haitian families, both in the United States and in Haiti. In his letter, Archbishop Coakley urged the President to provide deferred enforced departure for Haitians peacefully residing in the United States.
"I write with deep pastoral concern in relation to the growing number of Haitians being forcibly repatriated to Haiti from the United States and to humbly request your assistance. Recently, at least 47 people were brutally murdered, more than 20 injured, and over 50 kidnapped in an unconscionable act of violence perpetrated by gang members in Port-auPrince. Perhaps worst of all, the victims were displaced families – young children among them – taking shelter at a church. Together with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, my brother bishops and I express our spiritual closeness with the victims and pray for the swift release of all hostages. As citizens of this great country, we have been entrusted with a tremendous moral responsibility, and this is true most of all for you as our head of state, Mr. President. To this end, I respectfully ask: What good is the immense wealth, prosperity, and influence with which we have been blessed as a nation if not used in service of our humanity? I recognize, as I expressed when we met earlier this year, the importance of regulating immigration and enforcing federal immigration law. I also acknowledge that the troubles in Haiti long precede your time in office, in addition to being complex and multifaceted. At the same time, I know you understand the essential role the United States plays in promoting the inherent value of human life. In this 250th year of American independence, we are reminded of our country’s humble, yet idealistic and inspired, beginnings. Among those ideals has always been, no matter where we are born, the belief that people are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. I urge you today, Mr. President, to uphold these fundamental rights, with the right to life being chief among them. I very much wish this recent and tragic example of human life being extinguished, virtually with impunity, was an irregularity in Haiti. Unfortunately, it is not. I implore you to avoid further endangering innocent human life by ceasing the deportation of large numbers of people to Haiti at this time, particularly while there is not an adequate system in place to provide for their safe and orderly reception and reintegration. The current approach will only contribute to the country’s already deepening crisis, undermining your own strategic objectives for the Western Hemisphere. Please exercise your authority under the U.S. Constitution to provide deferred enforced departure for Haitians peacefully residing in the United States."
