Latest news with #Haiti
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Supreme Court Backs Trump's Tough Immigration Stance, Clears Path For Mass Deportations
(The Center Square) – Deportation of nearly 500,000 people illegally in the country was cleared by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, handing a victory to the Trump administration. The decision puts a hold on a lower court's decision to allow people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to remain in the U.S. for two years through a Biden-era decision. The case will continue to play out in lower courts. Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump instructing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to 'terminate all categorical parole programs,' which included the CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela parole program). In the , the court said that 'parole is discretionary by statute.' 'DHS awards the parole status through a competitive and detailed application process that involves a rigorous, individualized assessment of the applicant's circumstances,' the justices said. In the complaint filed in the Boston court detailed in the Supreme Court's ruling, Talwani said Noem 'acted arbitrarily and capriciously, contrary to law, and in excess of her legal authority by prematurely terminating their parole.' The court did not sign the order; however, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the ruling. The lawsuits were filed after the Trump administration terminated the Biden administration-era CHNV Parole program that was used to facilitate the illegal entry of more than from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela into the U.S., The Center Square exclusively reported. Under the Biden administration, more than three million illegally entered the U.S. or attempted illegal entry from CHNV countries, The Center Square . They totaled more than the population of 20 individual U.S. states. The ruling comes after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to terminate temporary protected status for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans, The Center Square .
New York Times
3 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
How the Supreme Court Made Legal Immigrants Vulnerable to Deportation
The government knows their names. Their fingerprints have been scanned into government computers. The Department of Homeland Security knows where most of them live, because the immigrants in question — more than 500,000 of them — reside in the United States legally. But two new Supreme Court decisions have left them open to deportation, an abrupt turn for a population that has been able to remain in the country by using legal pathways for people facing war and political turmoil at home. 'Thousands of people — especially Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans — instantly shift from 'lawfully present' to 'deportable,'' said Jason Houser, a former official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Biden administration. Now, with their protections revoked while legal challenges move through lower courts, many immigrants have found themselves in a vulnerable position. Because so many of them have shared detailed information with the government, including addresses, biometrics and the names of their sponsors, they could be easy to track down at a moment when the Trump administration is looking for ways to deport people quickly. 'Ending the C.H.N.V. parole programs, as well as the paroles of those who exploited it, will be a necessary return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First,' said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department. She was using an abbreviation for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the countries in the humanitarian parole program targeted by the Trump administration. Whether and how aggressively the administration might move to begin rounding up people whose legal protections have been revoked remains unclear, though officials signaled several months ago that they feel they have the authority to do so. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
How Haitian women-led nonprofit organizations are turning sisterhood into strategy
'Haitian heritage is a living force.' These Haitian women-led nonprofit organizations reclaim power, healing, and hope for Haiti. When folks talk about Haiti's revolution, names like Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines get all the shine. But what about Sanité Bélair, who faced the firing squad with her head high? Or Cécile Fatiman, whose spiritual power helped ignite the revolution? Or Marie-Jeanne Lamartinière, who picked up a musket and defended Haiti's freedom like her life depended on it—because it did? These women weren't in the background. They were the backbone. Their spirit didn't disappear with the end of the revolution; it just shifted. Today, their legacy lives on—not just in textbooks, but in the actions of Haitian women who continue to organize, resist, and rebuild in the face of adversity. At the heart of this modern movement is a simple but revolutionary belief that 'Haitian women deserve space to thrive, not just survive.' That belief is the foundation of the Haitian Ladies Network (HLN), a growing global sisterhood birthed from shared values and an unshakeable commitment to heritage, healing, and collective progress. 'We want the world to see beyond crisis-driven headlines,' HLN told theGrio, 'and recognize Haiti for its depth, resilience, and brilliance.' They are not alone in that vision. Across borders and time zones, Haitian women are rising to challenge not just the narrative about Haiti, but the systems that have long excluded their voices and leadership from shaping its future. Organizations like HLN, the Haitian Women's Collective (HWC), and grassroots coalitions like Nègès Mawon and Marijan Ayiti prove that when Haitian women lead, communities heal, and nations transform. For Carine Jocely, the founder and director of HWC, it all started when she gathered a group of Haitian and Haitian-American women who were doing powerful work—building clinics, running grassroots organizations, supporting survivors, and holding down communities back home in Haiti. What started as an informal space to exchange ideas quickly revealed a deeper need: connection, visibility, and recognition for Haitian women who have always done the work, but rarely get the mic. 'I quickly realized the power and impact of their work and the need to formalize the network,' explained Jocely. '[HWC] is grounded in an unshakeable faith in the resilience of Haitian women and girls. We are committed to changing the narrative for Black women-led organizations in Haiti from one of fragility to one of strength and capacity.' This shift in narrative is something Haitian women across the globe have been fighting for—and building toward—for years. While mainstream media often tells one story about Haiti—one of chaos, instability, and crisis—Haitian women have been crafting another story—one rooted in legacy, resistance, community care, and vision. They're not just responding to Haiti's crises. They're reimagining what's possible for Haiti. Like HWC, HLN began as a gathering of like-minded women and has grown into one of the largest platforms for Haitian women worldwide. With a bold and beautifully simple goal to connect Haitian women across generations and geographies to celebrate heritage, share resources, and ignite a sense of collective power, the organization leans on five pillars: Wellness and Healing, Financial Well-Being, Voice and Influence, Bridging Haiti and its Diaspora, and Culture and Heritage. But most importantly, they offer belonging. Whether mentoring young professionals, supporting women entrepreneurs, or cultivating cultural pride, HLN is in the business of restoration—of dignity, identity, and the right to dream beyond disaster. 'Our mission is to shift the narrative from one of struggle to one of strength, beauty, and infinite possibility with Haitian women leading the way in telling that story,' HLN representatives added. Still, it's an uphill battle. Only 3% of global funding for Haiti goes directly to Haitian organizations. And with USAID freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, a 2025 UN Women study warns that nearly half of women's organizations on the ground may shut down within six months. Despite this, Haitian women keep showing up. HWC supports frontline groups embedded in communities, offers burnout prevention and trauma-informed care, advocates for fair international policy that recognizes the expertise and leadership of Haitian women, and organizes virtual healing spaces for human rights defenders, understanding that rest is resistance, too. 'Women in general need spaces that applaud them for their work,' Jocely shared. 'The grassroots groups doing the work, day in and day out, are often not recognized, provided a seat at the decision-making table, or afforded large, impactful funding opportunities,' Jocely noted. And perhaps no group lives that ethos more than Nègès Mawon. This Haiti-based feminist collective has made a name for itself by championing gender justice, political resistance, and healing practices amid some of the country's darkest days. Known for its outspoken advocacy and deep-rooted cultural work, Nègès Mawon creates spaces for survivors of gender-based violence, artists, and activists to reclaim their narratives and support each other. Whether through artistic expression, community action, or direct protest, their work is a defiant celebration of what Haitian womanhood really looks like—unbought, unbossed, and unbroken. Together, these organizations are doing more than offering aid; they are reminding the world that 'Haitian heritage is not just history. It is a living force that continues to shape the world.' More must-reads: Joy Reid warns Black community not to be fooled by Trump's recent pardons Shannon Sharpe postpones 'Nightcap' tour Trump provides coy response when asked if he would pardon Diddy
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Returning to Haiti is suicide': Migrants face harrowing choice after Supreme Court ruling
From the moment President Donald Trump took office, Flo has worried and contemplated her next steps. The mother of a 5-year-old daughter who is still in Haiti, Flo, the beneficiary of the Biden-era humanitarian program known as CHNV, didn't want to be limited by the restrictions that come with a political asylum claim, so she didn't apply. But neither did the North Miami woman want to return to gang-ridden Haiti, where most people are dependent on the remittances that flow into the country from abroad to survive — and where in moments everyday life can take a drastic turn for the worse. 'I've been looking at my options,' said Flo, who asked that her full name not be used for fear she will be targeted by immigration authorities. She said she's thinking about moving to Canada, where she has over a dozen family members, but has yet to make up her mind. 'Returning to Haiti is suicide. You never know what's going to happen to you.' On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court left Flo and as many as a half-million other immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela with few options when it ruled that the Trump administration can, for the moment, terminate the humanitarian program that granted them temporary legal status in the United States. 'I couldn't see any hope in Haiti and even now, I don't see any hope,' said Flo. 'When they say 'Haitians have to go,' and Haitians don't want to leave, it's because they know there is no life in Haiti.' Even though there are parts of Haiti not yet controlled by the armed criminal gangs that have run amok in the capital and other regions, it's just a matter of time, because the government has been so inept at combating them, Flo said: 'When you have an open wound and you don't treat it, it will spread.' Unlike Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, whose governments have been traditionally reluctant to take back deportees from the United States, Haiti always complies, making Haitians in the U.S. more vulnerable than the other nationalities. Haiti's government says it can't turn down the repatriation of its citizens. But more fundamentally, the country's current un-elected leaders are totally dependent on the U.S. for their political survival, for humanitarian assistance and for the money that pays for the country's national police and an international security support mission. This year alone, the Trump administration has landed four Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights into Haiti. Though the numbers are nowhere that of the Dominican Republic — which has repatriated at least 139,000 Haitians this year — the Department of Homeland Security has sent deportation flights despite warnings about the dangers Haitians face on returning and calls by immigration advocates and the United Nations to stop. Haitians make up one of the largest beneficiaries of the parole program — known as CHNV for the initials of the four nationalities affected — with approximately 211,010 taking advantage of the benefit as of the end of last year. Haitians were not part of the program initially, but they were added by the Biden administration to provide humanitarian relief as the country collapsed into lawlessness, as well as to prevent a mass migration to South Florida. The program allowed people from the four countries to come to the U.S., at a rate of 30,000, a month if they passed background checks, had a financial sponsor in the U.S. and bought their plane ticket. Some of the Haitians who arrived as part of the program were people like Flo, living outside the capital and searching for a better life. Others — nurses, police officers, bankers, doctors and other professionals —had been victims of kidnappings and other atrocities. Now, in the absence of some other means of staying legally in the U.S. such as Temporary Protected Status or a political asylum claim, they have found themselves forcibly rendered undocumented overnight, leaving them vulnerable to deportation to a country that remains overwhelmed by violence and rapidly worsening political instability. 'Today's ruling does not just impact up to half a million legal immigrants in this country. It upends the lives of their employers, their families and their loved ones,' Karen Tumlin, founder and director of the advocacy group Justice Action Center, said on the brink of tears during a press call Friday. 'In short, it impacts all of us. Trump's cruel immigration agenda is not dramatically sealed off from those of us who have the fortune to be U.S. citizens at birth, we are all impacted by this cruelty, and to all Americans who care about the rule of law.' In Haiti's case, neither a recent U.S. designation of the armed groups as terrorist organizations nor a multinational force led by Kenya has made a dent in the gangs' ability to sow chaos. So its nationals in the United States who came under the CHNV program now face a hard choice: Do they stay and risk being deported, return home and being kidnapped or killed, or flee some place else? 'For the Trump administration to find it okay to send people to Haiti right now is unbelievable. It's unconscionable,' said Guerline Joseph, executive director and co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an immigrants' rights group. 'We don't even understand the narrative behind it, other than ... racism. 'We are calling on the administration to reconsider their plan, and we are calling on the American people to voice their concerns against these extreme conditions, and we are asking the community to stay vigilant, to make sure that they take care of themselves, take a moment to breathe,' she added. Speaking directly to Haitians in Creole during a press conference after the Supreme Court decision, Joseph acknowledged what she called a 'painful day.' But she said the group's legal team, which filed the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court's order Friday, plans to continue its fight. 'Many lives are at risk, and we know that deportations continue to go to Haiti every single month, so we are really pushing back and trying to see what's the best way moving forward,' she said. Paul Christian Namphy, policy director of Family Action Network Movement in Miami, which works with Haitian migrants, also called on the Haitian community to remain united and engaged. 'This deeply disappointing ruling jeopardizes the lives of approximately half a million people who fled violence and instability seeking safety, dignity and opportunity,' said Namphy. 'We will not stop fighting for the rights, dignity and livelihoods of immigrants.' Rivly Breus knew that the CHNV program had a two-year window when she applied with her Miami non-profit, the Erzule Paul Foundation, to help resettle refugees by providing financial sponsorship. Through the organization Breus and other Americans were encouraged to sponsor refugees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ukraine and Afghanistan. Breus, who lives in North Miami, took in 30 people, whom she helped find jobs, enroll in school and start making a better life. 'It's not that they want to leave their country to come to America,' she said. 'It's just circumstances that are forcing them to come over here.... They are grateful to be here away from all the tragedies and difficulties they were facing in their homeland.' She said the administration's line tarring immigrants are criminals is wrong. 'These people are family members, mothers, daughters, sons, fathers, and just your regular next-door neighbor, basically they're just looking to survive,' she said. Though she said she isn't shocked by Friday's ruling, she is disappointed and worried about its impact. 'We thought that going through the courts would give us more time to do what we needed to do, whether it's finding loopholes or trying to get as many advocates together to see if we could put a halt on the proceedings,' Breus said. 'Now what do I tell those who have court dates when they go to court? What's going to happen? Are they going to be deported right away? Are they going to be taken on a bus to a detention center?' Those are the very questions people have been asking her, especially those from Haiti, even before Friday's ruling. 'Where are they going to go?' Breus said as her mother, a Haitian immigrant herself, looked on. 'The ones from Port-au-Prince, they can't go back, because some of their homes are occupied by gangs, or their neighborhoods are occupied. For those who are going elsewhere outside of Port-au-Prince, where there was unemployment and no stability or opportunities, what kind of opportunity is there?'' Flo has been in the U.S. since 2023, and works a part-time job stocking store shelves overnight making $14.50 an hour. Some weeks she may work three days or even a full week. Other weeks she may find herself sitting at home for five straight days. Regardless of whether she works or not, she has to send money home to take care of her daughter and other family members. 'If you are working over here and you have family in Haiti and you don't send money, you're committing a huge crime,' she said. Though life in the U.S. hasn't been without challenges, she said, it's still better than Haiti. 'Here you can walk outside and know nothing is going to happen to you,' she said. 'But not in Haiti. There you can lie down and, just like that, you're dead from a stray bullet.' Still, she knows her time is running out and her options are limited. Though she has Temporary Protected Status, that will end in three months unless the administration extends it, which appears unlikely. The administration, which announced Friday that diplomat Henry Wooster will replace U.S. Ambassador Dennis Hankins to lead its embassy in Port-au-Prince, has not given any indication of what it will do. 'If they tell me categorically I have to go, I don't have a choice,' Flo said. Still, she says, Haiti is not an option, even though she misses her daughter and it pains her to hear her ask when she is coming home. 'I'm going some place else.'
Free Malaysia Today
17 hours ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
US top court lets Trump revoke legal status for 500,000 migrants
Donald Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants. (AP pic) WASHINGTON : The US Supreme Court handed president Donald Trump a major victory today in his immigration crackdown, giving his administration the green light to revoke the legal status of half a million migrants from four Caribbean and Latin American countries. The decision puts 532,000 people who came from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the US under a two-year humanitarian 'parole' programme launched by former president Joe Biden at risk of deportation. And it marked the second time the highest US court has sided with Trump in his aggressive push to deliver on his election pledge to deport millions of non-citizens, through a series of policy announcements that have prompted a flurry of lawsuits. But the opinion sparked a scathing dissent from two justices in the liberal minority who said the six conservatives on the bench had 'plainly botched' their ruling and undervalued the 'devastating consequences' to those potentially affected. The revoked programme had allowed entry into the US for two years for up to 30,000 migrants a month from the four countries, all of which have dismal human rights records. But as Trump takes a hard line on immigration, his administration moved to overturn those protections, winning a ruling from the Supreme Court earlier this month that allowed officials to begin deporting some 350,000 Venezuelans. The latest case resulted from homeland security secretary Kristi Noem cancelling an 18-month extension of the temporary protected status of the migrants, citing in particular the 'authoritarian' nature of Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela. The department gave them 30 days to leave the country unless they had legal protection under another programme. 'Needless human suffering' 'The court has plainly botched this assessment today,' justices Ketanji Brown Jackon and Sonia Sotomayor wrote in their dissent. The justices said the migrants face being wrenched from family and returning to potential danger in their native countries – or opting to stay and risking imminent removal. 'At a minimum, granting the stay would facilitate needless human suffering before the courts have reached a final judgment regarding the legal arguments at issue, while denying the government's application would not have anything close to that kind of practical impact,' Jackson said. None of the other justices gave reasons for their decision, and the court was not required to make the vote public. The district court that barred the administration from revoking the migrants' status had argued that it was unlawfully applying a fast-track deportation procedure aimed at illegal immigrants to non-citizens protected by government programmes. At the Supreme Court, justice department lawyers said the 'district court has nullified one of the administration's most consequential immigration policy decisions' by issuing the stay. The high court's decision means the Trump administration can go ahead with its policy change, even as the litigation on the merits plays out in lower courts. Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants, evoking an 'invasion' of the US by hordes of foreign criminals. Among other measures, he invoked an obscure wartime law to fly more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador. But his programme of mass deportations has been thwarted or restricted by numerous court rulings, including from the Supreme Court and notably on the grounds that those targeted should be able to assert their due process rights. And the administration has been berated over its efforts to restrict immigration from poor countries with human rights concerns like Afghanistan and Haiti, while accepting white South African refugees amid baseless claims that they face 'genocide.' The Trump administration systematically accuses judges who oppose his immigration decisions of plundering his presidential national security powers.
