Boston cafe turns into phone bank for Haitian TPS bill

Catch up quick: The House passed a petition led by U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) to extend TPS for Haitians for three years.

• Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) blocked efforts last week to pass a similar proposal filed by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), calling it "mass amnesty."

The latest: Mayor Michelle Wu and City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune signed a letter dated Tuesday with over 100 other officials and groups nationwide calling on Congress to act.

Threat level: Some 22,000 Haitians in Massachusetts lost status and work authorization after their protections expired last week.

• Business leaders warned the move will deal a blow to the state's health care and construction sectors, which employed thousands of Haitians TPS holders.

What they're saying: "I'm sharing a community with them, taking the buses with them," Thea Iberall, a Hyde Park resident, told Axios when asked why she signed up for the phone bank.

• "I'm learning Creole. I'm learning because that's my community. I want to support them," she said.

• As she started making calls, Iberall said, someone reminded her the State Department has barred U.S. travel to Haiti due to unrest and crime.

The other side: "If people want to come to our country to work, they need to do that by coming here the legal way," a DHS spokesperson told Axios last week.

• Schmitt, the Missouri U.S. senator, said last week, "Temporary must mean temporary. Deportation must mean departure. The law must mean something. And America must come first."

Reality check: The Senate has a slim Republican majority, and that makes the chances of a TPS extension becoming law even slimmer.