U.S. Representative, District 24

The H-1B program should serve America’s workforce—not be used to undercut American workers’ wages or replace qualified Americans. I support reforms that prioritize American workers, require employers to pay competitive wages, crack down on abuse, and reserve H-1B visas for legitimate high-skill workforce needs where American workers cannot fill the position.

I support securing our southern border, enforcing our immigration laws, and prioritizing the removal of criminals and those who pose a threat to public safety.

At the same time, we should create a clear, lawful process for people who have earned the right to remain, while ending policies that encourage illegal immigration and ensuring that those who follow the rules are not left behind.

For 15 years, Washington has told Haitian families in South Florida that their status was temporary, and for 15 years nothing changed. During that time, the situation in Haiti has only worsened, and many community members have built businesses, raised families, staffed hospitals, and created institutions the rest of us depend on. Put simply, that is not a temporary population, and the community has earned better than a deportation notice. In Congress, I will fight for an earned path to citizenship. Earned: a steady work history, taxes paid, a clean record, a full background check. Not amnesty, and not a cut ahead of anyone who waited in line.

A Republican Congress did this in 1998 with the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, and it was right then. Those who have worked, paid taxes, built our communities, and embodied the American experience should not be cast aside, but welcomed as who they are: Haitian-Americans. I won’t pretend, either, that the other side doesn’t matter. No immigration bill can fix the status of Port-Au-Prince and Haiti. I will work to end the South Florida weapons pipeline to Port-Au-Prince, and back the effort to rebuild, because nobody wants a stable Haiti more than those forced to leave it.