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Leaders of the Haitian community in Miami called on Monday the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing the Trump administration to revoke a status protecting 350 ‘unfair’.
Leaders of the Haitian community in Miami called Monday the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing the Trump administration to revoke a status protecting 350,000 Haitians from deportation ‘unfair,’ even as gang violence continues in their country.
‘It’s a painful moment for the community,’ said Vanessa Joseph, president of a network of Haitian-American elected officials and public leaders, during a press conference in the Little Haiti neighborhood.On Thursday, the highest U.S. court, which leans conservative, gave a win to the Trump administration in its mass deportation policy by allowing it to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians and 6,000 Syrians.
TPS, which protects its beneficiaries from deportation and gives them the right to work, is temporarily granted to immigrants whose safety is threatened in their country due to conflicts, natural disasters, or other “extraordinary” conditions.
In Miami-Dade County, where about 110,000 Haitians live, this decision plunges many migrants into uncertainty.
Families “are scared” and are “looking for answers,” said Thamara Labrousse, a manager at the NGO Sant La, which helps the Haitian community in South Florida.
“They ask: Am I going to lose my job? Can I take my kids to school? Will I be separated from them? (…) These aren’t abstract questions, these are questions of survival,” she insisted.According to Jean Monestime, a Haitian-American running for Congress, the government should show that the situation has improved in Haiti to justify ending TPS.
The situation in this country, the poorest in the Americas, has actually gotten much worse in recent years, while it has long been facing a political, economic, and security crisis.
In this context, “it’s unfair for the government to make such decisions,” Monestime told AFP.
Officials at the press conference called on the Senate to pass a bill extending TPS for Haitians until 2029.These people ‘are deeply integrated into all sectors of this nation. They own homes and businesses, work as home aides, construction workers, entrepreneurs, and essential workers,’ listed Thamara Labrousse.
