Latest news with #HaitianAmericans
CBS News
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Haitian Americans desperate to return home amid violence and travel restrictions
Haitian Americans stranded in the U.S. say they are growing desperate as ongoing violence and the shutdown of commercial flights into Port-au-Prince keep them from returning to their home country. Despite a Level 4 travel advisory and mounting dangers, many say their lives and work are in Haiti and they're willing to risk everything to go back. It's been several months since any commercial airline has landed in Haiti's capital, leaving families separated and humanitarian efforts stalled. The situation became more dire after a Spirit Airlines plane was shot at while attempting to land in Port-au-Prince last November. "As soon as the airport is open, I will go back" Pastor Jean Rigaud and his wife, Melande, have been stuck in Miami since February of last year, waiting for a safe way back to Haiti, where they run a church, school, and orphanage. "As soon as the airport is open, I will go back because they are waiting for me so I'm more effective in Haiti," said Jean. His wife, Melande, says she shares that urgency - even though she knows the risks. "This is hard to say. I may go; they may kill me too, but this is my country." The Rigauds say, despite the chaos and bloodshed, Haiti is where they are needed most. Their orphanage houses 50 children, and their school serves hundreds more. "Life in Haiti is very hard, very tough. There is no life. The children cannot go to school. They're not safe. There is no hospital. They destroy everything," said Melande. Asked why she still wants to return, she simply replied, "This is my country!" Jean added, "I dedicate my life to stay in Haiti to minister to the good people in Haiti and to help mostly children." "It's very dangerous to get to Port-au-Prince" Though the airport in Cap-Haïtien remains open, only one airline currently flies in and out - and it's on the opposite end of the country. Reaching Port-au-Prince by road is treacherous, especially with widespread gang activity. Sylvain Exantus, who lives in Tabaire near Port-au-Prince, says gangs burned down his home. Now stuck in Miami, he too longs to return but says it's impossible. "By normal roads, it's very dangerous to get to Port-au-Prince," he said. Fear for the future amid TPS concerns Many Haitian Americans are now speaking out in desperation, hoping for stability in Haiti and concerned about their immigration status in the U.S. The Trump administration's plan to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitians has added urgency to their situation. Despite the violence and uncertainty, those like the Rigauds and Exantus say their heart is still in Haiti - and they will return as soon as they can.
Miami Herald
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Haitian Americans hold a power summit in an unlikely city for talks
For more than five decades, New York and Miami had been the cities of choice for Haitian immigrants, who have gone on to win political offices, head powerful organizations and become leading voices on both their homeland's turmoil, and U.S. immigration policies. But in a shifting landscape that speaks both to the community's changing immigration patterns and focus, another area of the country is quickly emerging as part of that expanding narrative: the Midwest. 'I was in Miami in this Uber and this guy's like, 'I'm moving next week to Indiana' and he's telling me the reason why,' Yolette Williams, the chief executive director of the community-based Haitian American Alliance of New York, recalled. 'Even in my work, a lot of the people who came, the asylum seekers, were all moving to the Midwest, to cities like Indiana.' That is why Williams and the other organizers of a summit focused on empowering the Haitian community in the United States said they chose Indianapolis, Indiana, as the backdrop of their conversations aimed at building bridges in the community for collaborative empowerment. First launched four years ago in New York during the Covid-19 epidemic, the gathering will take place over three days, Thursday to Saturday, at Indy's Global Village, with the goal of creating a road map to strengthen the community's bond and platform in the United States. Participants will include representatives of South Florida social-service organizations, along with others from New York that have spent decades trying to address the Haitian community's needs. There will also be new faces, especially from some of the emerging communities, including advocates from nearby Springfield, Ohio, and Houston. The latter were among the first to respond four years ago when thousands of Haitian-asylum seekers crossed at the U.S.-Mexico border in Del Rio, Texas, an incident that also gave birth to the idea of taking the summit out of traditional Haitian enclaves, Williams said. 'It's really about coming together and seeing as a community — nationally, how do we work together? How do we strengthen our positions in the United States? Because we are Haitian Americans,' she said. 'We are already four generations living in the United States.' Haitians, organizers say, need to find ways to respond to what has essentially emerged as a moment of crisis in the community. This is especially true in the current climate in which the community found itself thrust into the national spotlight last year after Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance falsely accused Haitians in Springfield of eating their neighbors' pets. In office, both men are focused on carrying out their campaign promise of mass deportations, and Haitians find themselves targeted after the Department of Homeland and Security earlier this year threw out deportation protections. 'We find ourselves overnight…having a million people undocumented,' said Garry Pierre-Pierre, the founder and publisher of the Haitian Times, an English-language publication that serves the Haitian diaspora. 'These kinds of radical positions demand sophistication. We know we have the Haitian American Lawyers Association, but they need to build capacity to help respond to this moment. So that's why we want to sit down and talk. We want to talk to the lawyers, to the doctors, and ask, what they are doing? What is the agenda? Where do we want to go? What's the mission?' Immigration will only be part of the conversation. Most of the focus will be on creating infrastructure to support the community's growth along with building wealth, fostering deeper community ties and strengthening political influence. 'The Haitian community has done wonderfully well since it started coming in large numbers' in the 1960s and '70s, said Pierre-Pierre. 'We've grown. We have had a lot of individual successes. But the community success remains to be seen. There are a lot of smart, intelligent, devoted people, but I don't think that we have a road map of how we actually build communities. 'You look at other communities that have come before us, or at the same time with us, and the way that they have developed is through community organization, institutional building; we don't have any of that; we have a lot of people duplicating efforts, many times over,' he said. The lack of organization and a unified voice in the U.S. has repeatedly come up in conversations about U.S. efforts to address the crisis in Haiti, and bringing about progress in the volatile Caribbean nation, where the population is facing record levels of hunger and gang violence. But unlike other gatherings, in which Haiti and its unprecedented gang crisis are usually the focus, Pierre-Pierre and Williams said the Haitian Community Summit will prioritize other discussions. 'We're not going to focus on Haiti because every conference focuses on Haiti,' Pierre-Pierre said. 'We need to understand and build these connections with our counterparts in Haiti. But before you can do anything, you have to know what you want to do. You have to assess your capacity. You have to know what your limits are and we don't know that.' Still, organizers say they had hoped to broach the subject by extending an invitation to former Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille, who was abruptly fired by the country's ruling Transitional Presidential Council last fall after less than six months at the helm. 'Here is a person who has been prime minister twice, and failed twice. Why? What is it about him that made him so unsuccessful?' Pierre-Pierre said about Conille, who declined the invite. 'His reality for me was going to show the reality of Haiti, and if we're talking about Haiti, we need to understand, why is it that someone who sort of represents a diaspora, and on paper is highly competent and qualified to do the job, but in reality, couldn't?' Still, it's hard to escape the Haiti question, as evidenced by a report the Haitian Times, a sponsor of the summit, recently published that is being used as a blueprint for several of the breakout workshops. Last year, as Pierre-Pierre and his staff at the Haitian Times embarked on a listening tour across nine states to better understand the Haitian community's aspirations and challenges, they asked a series of open-ended questions. One question: 'What keeps you up awake at night about Haiti?' 'The Haiti question often elicits tears.... what's happening in Haiti,' he said. The report, 'Voices of the Haitian Diaspora,' he said, provides a peek into the psyche of the community, not just when it comes to their homeland and the narrative surrounding it, but the community in the U.S. If you go: Thursday, May 1 to Saturday, May 3, 2025; Registration is $250 for three days or $100 a day. To register, click here or contact info@
CBS News
27-02-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
NYC officials call on Trump administration to stop TPS rollback for Haitians
Elected officials in New York City are standing alongside the local Haitian community to push back on the Trump administration's rollback of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitians. The administration is ending the deportation protection extension for over 500,000 Haitian Americans as the island nation faces a humanitarian crisis. "For decades the TPS system has been exploited and abused. For example, Haiti has been designated for TPS since 2010. The data shows each extension of the country's TPS designation allowed more Haitian nationals, even those who entered the U.S. illegally, to qualify for legal protected status," the Department of Homeland Security said when they announced the rollback of TPS status. Homeland Security said an estimated 57,000 Haitians were eligible for TPS protections as of 2011 but by July 2024, that number had climbed to 520,694. According to New York City's Office of Immigrant Affairs, there are about 15,000 New Yorkers who have TPS, and 5,400 of them – more than one-third – are Haitian. Data shows TPS holders generate $260 million to the city's economy every year. "This is not about policy, it's about cruelty" City leaders are calling on Congress and the Trump administration to reverse the decision. Immigration advocates and elected officials, several of whom are Haitian New Yorkers, stood together at City Hall on Thursday. "If you come for Haiti, you have to come for all of us," said Robert Agyemang, with the New York Immigration Coalition. "Make no mistake, this is not about policy, it's about cruelty," New York City Councilmember Farah Louis said. "Everybody's scared. People are not going to school. It's anxiety that we have," New York City Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse said. "Emotionally, it's hard," immigration attorney Stephanie Delia said. "It's almost as if they're trying to criminalize certain communities for even existing," Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said. "From here, we're calling on Congress for support. We're calling on state and city to provide funding to our nonprofit organizations. Everyone deserves due process. Everybody needs representation," Louis said. Wednesday, CBS News New York's Jennifer Bisram went to Brooklyn's Little Haiti, where streets and businesses were deserted. "There's rumors stating that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] are coming to the church to pick them up. Because of that, they stay home," said Rev. Leslie Thomas, a minister with Church of God in Harlem. "Those that who come to church, what we're doing, we tell them to believe, to pray." In the meantime, immigration advocates say they're been holding more virtual "Know Your Rights" sessions for people scared of leaving their homes.
CBS News
22-02-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
South Florida Haitians urge Trump administration to reconsider TPS rollback
Haitian Americans in South Florida are calling on the Trump administration to reverse its decision to roll back the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) extension for more than 500,000 Haitians in the U.S., warning that deportations would send them back to dangerous and unstable conditions. "We are not criminals… we are law-abiding citizens," community members said at a press conference in Little Haiti on Friday, joined by Haitian American elected officials, activists, and attorneys. Among them was 25-year-old Tasha, a recent South Florida college graduate and TPS recipient. "I am a TPS recipient, and I am legal," she said. "Sending us Haitians back home would mean sending us back to a non-livable country." "Both inhumane and unjust" Speakers at the press conference highlighted Haiti's ongoing crises, including political instability, economic hardship, and the lingering devastation from past natural disasters. "To send them back to a country still grappling with the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, political unrest, and economic hardship is both inhumane and unjust," said Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien, who represents Little Haiti. Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously supported Haitian TPS holders, to meet with the community. Legal challenges expected In response to criticism, the Department of Homeland Security defended its decision, stating: "For decades, the TPS system has been exploited and abused. For example, Haiti has been designated for TPS since 2010. The data shows each extension of the country's TPS designation allowed more Haitian nationals, even those who entered the U.S. illegally, to qualify for legal protected status." Immigration attorney Ira Kurzban said the administration's justification for the rollback will likely face legal challenges. "You look at the document they submitted yesterday—there is not one word about the conditions in Haiti. That's what Temporary Protected Status is about," Kurzban said. "Donald Trump told the American people he was going to get rid of all the criminals. He can't find those millions of people who are criminals, so he's taking legal people, who have legal status, and stripping it away." Uncertain future for Haitian TPS holders For many, the rollback leaves them with an uncertain future. When asked what she will do after TPS ends in August 2025, Tasha had no clear answer. "I don't know. There are no other solutions. It would mean for me to go back home," she said, though she remains hopeful for a change.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump betrays another community he previously vowed to ‘champion'
As Donald Trump prepared to exit the White House the first time, the then-president shielded most Venezuelans in the United States from deportation, agreeing that the situation in their country was 'catastrophic.' His Democratic successor agreed: Joe Biden extended the Temporary Protected Status designation to nearly 350,000 Venezuelans who are in the U.S., and the protections were supposed to remain in place through the fall of 2026. Two weeks into his second term, Trump reversed course, ended the protections and put the Venezuelans at risk for deportation. The community, especially in Florida, was outraged. 'Betrayed. We feel betrayed. More than betrayed. Beyond betrayed,' Adeyls Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus in Doral, Florida, told NBC News. Two weeks later, the Republican president did it again. NBC News also reported: The Trump administration on Thursday canceled an extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, the latest move by the president targeting the form of immigration relief for people coming from countries facing political upheaval and natural disasters. In June, amid the island's violent domestic turmoil, the Biden administration announced the temporary immigration protection was extended for Haitians until February 2026. The protections will now end in August. 'The Trump administration is ripping stability away from half a million Haitians who have built their lives here — children, workers, parents, and neighbors who have become integral to American communities and contributed to our economy,' Beatriz Lopez, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigrant advocacy organization, said in a statement. 'Deporting people to a country plagued by violence and political turmoil is unconscionable, and stripping them of legal status will only force working families into the shadows, inflicting fear in children and their loved ones and leaving industries like healthcare, construction, and hospitality scrambling for workers.' It's easy to forget, but in 2016, when Florida was still seen as a battleground state, Trump campaigned in Miami and spent some time at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, stressing the 'common values' he shared with Haitian Americans. 'Whether you vote for me or not,' the then-candidate said at the time, 'I really want to be your biggest champion.' A year later, he scrapped temporary status protection for Haitians who were allowed entry to the U.S. following a devastating earthquake in 2010. A year after that, the Republican hosted a White House meeting and referred to Haiti as a 's---hole' country. Six years after that, Trump based part of his 2024 presidential campaign on racist and false claims about Haitian Americans in Ohio eating household pets. And now Trump is again betraying the community he vowed to 'champion.' This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on
