When U.S. Rep. Ami Bera decided to join a bipartisan congressional delegation to Haiti this week — the first such visit by U.S. lawmakers in seven years — the California Democrat and physician was prepared to see dire conditions based on the reports coming out of the Caribbean country and briefings he has received as a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees.

But as he and his colleagues traveled through gang-ravaged Port-au-Prince with heavily armed U.S. Embassy protection, bumping along rutted roads, past makeshift encampments and congested streets, the devastation proved even more striking than he had anticipated.

What he saw and later heard in meetings with officials, Bera said, reinforced his opposition to the Trump administration’s decision to end deportation protections for more than 350,000 Haitian in the U.S.

“The conditions we saw on the ground were pretty horrific,” he told the Miami Herald on Friday.

Bera was one of two Democratic and two Republican House members who traveled to Port-au-Prince. The bipartisan delegation was led by Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Florida Republican Kat Cammack and Illinois Democrat Jonathan Jackson also joined the trip, along with staffers from other congressional offices.

Bera attempted to ascertain whether conditions in Haiti have improved enough to justify ending Temporary Protected Status — a standard Congress set to justify termination of TPS when lawmakers established the humanitarian program in 1990, and one critics have accused the Trump administration of disregarding.

He also wanted to determine if Haiti, which is facing widespread hunger and the closure of thousands of schools and most hospitals in the capital due to gang violence, could absorb the return of thousands of its nationals.

“This is not the right time to be sending people back to Haiti,” the congressman said. “You’re sending folks into a chaotic situation.”

During the visit, at least three senior Haitian government officials, including the chiefs of staff at the defense and education ministries and an accountant in the planning ministry, were among the latest victims of gang kidnappings. Among those also held by the gangs are Russian and Turkish nationals who were abducted from a cargo ship on May 3. A 6-year-old girl who is a U.S. citizen also remained in captivity after 46 days, despite multiple ransom payments.

On Friday, as Haitians received phone alerts warning them to remain vigilant, police said two other foreign nationals had also been abducted for ransom.

TPS holders deported from the U.S. “are going to be ripe targets for kidnapping as well,” Bera said. “This would be a disaster to send folks back right now.”

During the visit, the delegation met with interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who told lawmakers that while TPS is supposed to be temporary, the timing is wrong to send Haitians back.

The congressman said he specifically asked Fils-Aimé about the northern city of Cap-Haïtien after senior State Department official Michael Kozak testified during a congressional hearing that deportees were being returned there, rather than to Port-au-Prince, and implied the city could absorb the influx.

“The prime minister was like, ‘No, Cap-Haïtien cannot take any additional folks. It’s not a city that was built for a million-plus individuals, and you’re just creating a situation over there,” Bera said.

The delegation also met with Defense Minister Mario Andresol, who led the Haiti National Police for seven years and is now trying to rebuild the army, and the acting director general of the Haiti National Police, André Jonas Vladimir Paraison.

Both spoke of the challenges confronting Haiti’s security forces as armed gangs expand their grip to other regions.

All of this, coupled with the limited capacity of the newly established Gang Suppression Force, makes the termination of TPS worrisome, said Bera, who also met with the force’s leadership along with colleagues.

“You want to be optimistic,” Bera said of the new gang-fighting force, “but they’re still kind of ramping things up and getting up to full speed. So that’s going to take some time.”

Bera acknowledged the administration may not listen to his appeal on TPS. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin announcing that TPS protections were over, even though the federal judge whose injunction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet issued an order formally lifting her stay. Despite that, Bera said he still plans to reach out to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

“I get it, temporary is temporary, but it betrays our values,” Bera said. “That isn’t who we are, to send these folks into a chaotic situation where they could get killed, they could get kidnapped. They have no place to live.”

He also plans to press colleagues in the Senate to support a bill that would extend TPS for Haitians by three years. The measure passed in the House with Republican backing.

Haiti is just 400 miles off the coast of Florida, he added, and if U.S. policymakers want to avoid a migration crisis and give it a chance of success, then “we should do this in a very systematic way.”

This includes allowing the country’s elections, scheduled for Dec. 13 to take place and giving a new government time to start the rebuilding.

“Give the (gang-fighting force) time to fully constitute its 5,000 plus force. Continue to train up a Haitian national police, a Haitian military,” Bera said. “Pass the legislation, extend TPS to 2029, and give it three years.”

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