Latest news with #CaribbeanAmerican
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Caribbean business leaders to meet in Delaware for historic business leadership summit
Caribbean culture and emerging leadership will be in the spotlight as leaders from five Caribbean nations will gather in Delaware for a landmark event celebrating heritage, innovation and professional growth. Aimed at transforming traditional business networks and fostering next-generation Caribbean-American leadership, the two-day conference will unfold on June 6 and 7. The celebration will include a gala at the Delaware Historical Society and a professional leadership conference at OperaDelaware. The summit, organized by the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of the Northeast, will bring together a diplomatic delegation in Delaware for the first time to focus on Caribbean-centered business and cultural initiatives. Christopher Chaplin, Jamaica's Honorary Consul in Philadelphia, speaks at the African Diaspora Finance and Investment Conference at the Route 9 Library and Innovation Center near New Castle on Feb. 22, 2025. In a gathering highlighting the growing influence of Caribbean-American leadership on the region's economic and cultural landscape, the invited attendees include the ambassador of the Bahamas to the United Nations; the consular generals from Hait, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago; and the consulate general from Guyana. OPENING SOON: Delaware's newest library reimagines community learning. Here's a sneak peek Empowering Caribbean American professionals The event arrives at a pivotal moment for Caribbean American professionals in the region, according to Lexi Whilby, founder and executive director of Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of the Northeast. Whilby noted that young entrepreneurs and professionals in the area face barriers in accessing capital and breaking into industries where diverse representation remains limited. This event is meant to demonstrate how collective effort and shared culture can unlock new opportunities. Lexi Whilby, founder and executive director of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of the Northeast. Panels and networking sessions will explore how Caribbean American leaders are using technology, storytelling and collaboration to build businesses and networks that reflect their identities. Organizers also describe the summit as a dynamic cultural and professional exchange, bringing Caribbean Americans and allies together for an immersive experience centered on identity, leadership and impact. For more information, visit the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of the Northeast website. You can contact staff reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@ This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Caribbean professionals to gather for Delaware leadership conference
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Seeking answers about death at Broward ICE center, congresswomen say they encounter ‘hostility and evasiveness'
Two members of Congress said Friday their efforts to learn more about the death of a detainee at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Broward were stonewalled by staff at the facility. Their questions about the medical care at the Broward Transitional Center were met with 'hostility and evasiveness,' U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick told reporters outside the center after she and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson spent an hour and 35 minutes inside. The facility's staff 'refused to give us complete and clear answers,' Cherfilus-McCormick said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is at the forefront of President Donald Trump's efforts to round up and deport people who aren't in the country legally, hasn't provided much information about the death of Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old Haitian citizen. ICE posted a 'detainee death notification' press release on Tuesday. It said Blaise was in its custody when 'pronounced deceased by medical professionals' at the Broward Transitional Center on April 25, at 8:35 p.m. 'The cause of death is under investigation.' That prompted the congressional visit. Cherfilus-McCormick, who represents most of the African American and Caribbean American communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties, is the only Haitian American member of Congress. Wilson, who represents South Broward and Miami-Dade counties, represents Miami's Little Haiti community. Both are Democrats. If conditions at the Broward facility and other ICE locations around the country persist, Cherfilus-McCormick and Wilson said, there would be more cases like Blaise — ending in detainee deaths. 'Marie is just an example of what is going to continue to happen,' Wilson said. 'This is something we're going to continue to see. It's going to get more crowded. It's going to continue to have more deaths. It's going to continue to have more children without their parents.' 'We must speak out. We must protest. We must let people know that this is wrong, that these people are human beings, that they are not to be caged like animals,' she added. Cherfilus-McCormick said what she saw inside the facility was 'heartbreaking.' 'This is not working. Marie Blaise wasn't just a one-off,' Cherfilus-McCormick said. 'This is not humane. Everything about it is very cruel and very, very unusual and peculiar.' Cherfilus-McCormick said there are 'well over 500 people' at the center, but she couldn't get a precise count. 'I specifically asked them how many people are here today and they would not answer,' she said. 'Instead, they wanted to give us a tour of empty bedrooms. They want us to take us into the chapel to show us how pretty the facility is. This is not about a facility being pretty. This is about how you are treating these women who are here and everybody else who's here in this facility.' Florida Senate Democrats change course with new leader Lori Berman. 'She doesn't fly off the cuff.' Campaign cash flows to state Rep. Cassel after her switch to Republican Party DeSantis questions Broward's 'massive' budget increases. 'What are they doing with that money?' Cherfilus-McCormick recounts horrors facing her own family members in Haiti, offers possible solutions to gang-fueled crisis Republican Moraitis matches Democrat Moskowitz in early money raised for Florida's hottest 2026 Congress race Challenger raises 18 times as much campaign money as Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick People have been detained at the facility for what she said are 'little incidents and infractions,' including one person who was in the U.S. for more than 25 years — and whose daughter is in the military — who's been at the transitional center waiting to be processed for five months. The main focus of the visit, they said, was to try to find out about health care services at the facility in general, and find out as much as they could about Blaise's death. Cherfilus-McCormick said she was told by the medical coordinator that there is one 'on-call' doctor for the facility. When the congresswomen began pressing for details, she said, their inquiries were shut down. 'We asked her several questions about what is her procedure, and she became very hostile, didn't want to answer questions. So we asked a little bit more. Well, how many people, how many doctors do you have? She said one. When we started asking more about that doctor, she refused to answer that question. 'Then when we asked about how many health care professionals, she stopped answering questions. And you could see that she was physically upset and didn't want to respond any longer,' Cherfilus-McCormick said. The lawmakers said they spoke with four detainees with specific knowledge of what happened to Blaise. 'They told us how she complained of chest pain regularly … for quite a few days,' Cherfilus-McCormick said. On the morning of her death she was given a prescription, but the pain continued. 'If you had persistent heart pain, chest pain, why was there no EKG? Why wasn't she sent to the hospital?' she asked. ICE said in its April 29 announcement that it 'provided email notification of Blaise's death' to the Haitian consulate in Miami. Wilson said the members of Congress haven't been able to find out much about Blaise or her family. She said her staff was able to track down Blaise's 22-year-old son via phone in California but he 'instantly became so upset' — possibly, she said, fearing the call was being traced or the government would try to find him 'because he might have been undocumented' — that he didn't provide much information. ICE's initial statement about the death provided some details about Blaise. The agency said it didn't know when or where Blaise entered the United States 'without admission or parole.' On Feb. 12, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped her at the airport in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, attempting to board a flight to Charlotte, N.C. On Feb. 14, CBP transferred her to ICE custody in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On Feb. 21, ICE transferred her to Richwood Correctional Center in Oakdale, La. On April 5, she was transferred to ICE's Miami division, which put her at the Broward Transitional Center. ICE said it notified the inspector general's office for its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, about the death. Wilson scoffed at the notion of those offices investigating what happened because, she said, so many of their staffers have been fired since Trump took office in January. Cherfilus-McCormick and Wilson said there should be some kind of external investigation into the death. ICE didn't immediately respond to questions Friday about Blaise or what Cherfilus-McCormick and Wilson reported from their visit. Neither did the GEO Group, the national private prison company based in Boca Raton, which has the contract to operate the facility. Wilson said GEO Group's contract should be canceled. The facility is on Powerline Road in Deerfield Beach. The nearest major landmark is the Monarch Hill landfill, more commonly known as Mount Trashmore. In the press release, ICE said it cares for detainees. 'ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health screening and 24-hour emergency care at each detention facility. At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care,' the statement said. GEO Group uses similar language about 'a safe, secure, and humane environment.' Tessa Petit, a native of Haiti who is executive director of the Florida Immigration Coalition, said the Trump administration has 'declared hunting season on immigrants' and is 'failing to provide the minimum safety and basic needs to those in their care.' Petit and Mary Estimé-Irvin, a city of North Miami council member, and chair of the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network, joined Cherfilus-McCormick and Wilson outside the facility, but only the lawmakers and their staffers were allowed inside. Estimé-Irvin said Blaise's name 'must not be forgotten. Her story must not be ignored. The death of Marie Ange Blaise raises serious troubling questions about the treatment of individuals in federal custody.' Anthony Man can be reached at aman@ and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Sen. Geraldine Thompson dead at 76
State. Sen. Geraldine Thompson died at 76. She championed access to health care, a quality education, and for the preservation of Black history. (Photo via the Florida House of Representatives,) When Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Renatha Francis as his next appointee to the Florida Supreme Court back in 2020, Francis had not yet been a member of the Florida Bar for 10 years, a requirement spelled out in the state Constitution. He attempted to fudge the problem. Geraldine 'Geri' Thompson called him on it. The veteran Democratic state legislator from central Florida fought the Republican governor all the way to a court that he had largely reshaped following his election in 2018. She insisted again and again that DeSantis could not ignore the constitutional requirements even as she applauded him for trying to make Francis the first Caribbean American to sit on the state's highest court. In the end, Thompson prevailed — the justices refused to seat her, and the governor had to appoint someone else. He didn't get to place Francis on the court for another two years, by which time she'd met the Bar requirement. It was but one example of Thompson's tenacity in pursuing an issue she believes in — one of many moments during her long career of public service that earned her praise from both sides of the aisle as a fighter and trailblazer. Thompson, who spent most of the past two decades in the Legislature, serving both in the House and Senate, died Thursday at 76 following complications from knee surgery, according to a statement from her family. Family members described her as a 'dedicated public servant and visionary leader. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother whose love, wisdom and compassion shaped their lives and the lives of so many in their community and across the state.' DeSantis on Friday acknowledged Thompson's death during a press conference. 'Casey and I send our condolences to the senator's family. I was surprised to see that news this morning, and I know she meant a lot to a lot of people, particularly in Central Florida. And, you know, she's been in the Legislature since I've been governor, and we have actually worked together on some issues.' Thompson was first elected to the state House in 2006, where she spent six years. She was elected to the Senate in 2012 and then ran for Congress in 2016 only to lose to Val Demings in the Democratic primary. Thompson returned to the House two years later and then returned to the Senate in 2022. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Florida Democratic Party issued a public statement calling Thompson a 'true trailblazer' as well as a 'lifelong public servant and fighter for civil rights' whose significance 'stretched far beyond the average elected official.' 'Over the course of her career she championed access to health care, giving our kids the education they deserve and preserving Black history and culture – most notably the establishment of the Wells'Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando,' the party said in a statement. The museum occupies the site of a hotel that housed Black musicians during segregation. May we continue the work she so passionately championed, ensuring that her legacy of service and advocacy lives on. – Sen. Tom Wright Thompson's death startled her Senate colleagues, who had just wrapped up a special session dealing with immigration. Senate President Ben Albritton called her a 'force to be reckoned with.' Sen. Tom Wright recalled working with Thompson on a project for the Wells'Built Museum, recording the audio history of Orlando's Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Institutional Church. 'It was an honor to contribute to her mission of preserving Florida's rich history, and I am forever grateful that she entrusted me with this responsibility,' the Republican from Volusia County wrote in a post on Facebook. He added, 'May we continue the work she so passionately championed, ensuring that her legacy of service and advocacy lives on.' Delaitre Hollinger, co-executive director at the Florida Civil Rights Museum and a former legislative aide to Thompson, called her loss 'immeasurable.' 'She was perhaps the greatest advocate for African American history, black museums, and preservation of civil rights history in the Legislature. I'm thankful for our time together,' he wrote in a Facebook post. Former state Rep. Michele Rayner recalled in a social media post how during her first term in the House she sat behind Thompson. 'Her wisdom and grace under fire was unmatched. Every time she opened her mouth she masterfully wove history, taught us and appealed to our better angels. I stood, and quite frankly still do, in awe and admiration of her,' wrote Rayner. 'Senator Thompson was tough but kind,' Rayner continued. 'She led by example and called us to be better. We, not just the legislature, but the state are better for her service. She will truly be missed. We owe her a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. Thank you for your selfless service. Rest well.' Florida Phoenix reporter Jackie Llanos contributed to this report. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
