Latest news with #Haitians
Hans India
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
US Supreme Court allows Trump administration ending umanitarian parole for 500,000-plus migrants
US Supreme Court lifted a federal district court order that kept humanitarian parole protections in place for more than 500,000 migrants from four countries of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The court has also allowed the Trump administration to revoke temporary legal status for about 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in another case, Xinhua news agency reported. The move has cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants for now, and pushed the total number of people who could be exposed to deportation to nearly one million, local media reported Friday. To address the growing number of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border, the Biden administration created a parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in late 2022 and early 2023, authorising them to work in the United States for two years after going through certain process. The program protected roughly 532,000 people from the risk of deportation. But soon after beginning his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to terminate all parole programs. Acting on the executive order, Noem in March announced ending the parole program, with any grants of parole still in effect expiring by April 24. A federal district court judge in Massachusetts agreed to halt Noem's blanket revocation of migrants' temporary legal status when a group of 23 individuals including several parolees and a nonprofit organization challenged Noem's termination of the program. The Trump administration first appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, which declined to pause the district court's order pending appeal; and then sought the Supreme Court's intervention.
Miami Herald
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘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 that the other nationalities. Haiti's government says it can't turn down the repatriation of its citizens. But more fundamentally, the country's current unelected 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. Kidnappings, other atrocities This year alone, the Trump administration has landed at least three Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights in 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. 'Deeply disappointing' 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?'' 'Going someplace else' 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.'
Miami Herald
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Miami's Justice Jackson writes blistering dissent to Supreme Court's CHNV ruling
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was educated in Miami public schools and Harvard University, is the newbie on the high court. But Jackson, who joined the court in June 2022 after her nomination by President Joe Biden, has not been shy about speaking her mind. To wit: her eloquent and trenchant dissent in the nine-member court's decision on Friday. She vehemently disagreed with the majority's ruling to vacate a federal judge's order that stopped the Trump administration's plan to prematurely end a humanitarian parole for a half million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States. Without parole protections during their legal dispute with the administration, Jackson wrote, the immigrants are at risk of being deported back to dangerous countries. Jackson, who was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the dissent, wrote that 'the Court has plainly botched' the assessment of whether the Trump administration would suffer 'irreparable harm' as it claims sole authority to terminate the humanitarian parole program 'en masse.' Keeping the parole program in place while the case makes its way through the court system, she wrote, 'requires next to nothing from the government,' which she stressed would suffer no harm from waiting. Friday's ruling, she added 'undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly a half million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.' But Jackson, known as a formidable debater at Miami Palmetto Senior High School in the 1980s, was just clearing her throat. She also noted that the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals who were allowed into the United States by the Biden administration came from 'conflict-ridden countries' and received 'parole status' for up to two years — a policy that President Donald Trump terminated on his first day in office on Jan. 20. The groups sued the Trump administration in federal court in Boston, where in April a judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing the end of the parole program and their possible deportation while their legal challenge is heard. But on Friday, the Supreme Court lifted the judge's protection, leaving them vulnerable to removal as they pursue immigration benefits, such as asylum and green cards. In Jackson's view, the Supreme Court reached the wrong conclusion through flawed legal analysis after evaluating which side would suffer the most if the justices decided to 'stay,' or put on hold, the federal judge's protective order for the paroled immigrants from the four countries. 'The bottom line is this: Our decision to issue a stay (or not) involves more — much more — than merely forecasting the eventual victor; after all, the underlying litigation is designed for and dedicated to determining that,' Jackson wrote. 'What stays are about, at their core, is an equitable assessment of who will be harmed, and to what extent, during the litigation process.' Jackson also pointed out that the ruling presents the immigrants involved with a terrible choice: They can choose to leave the United States and 'confront the dangers in their native country,' or they can remain here after their parole is terminated and 'risk imminent removal at the hands of government agents. 'Either choice creates significant problems for [the paroled immigrants] that far exceed any harm to the government,' she wrote. 'Yet, somehow, the Court has now apparently determined that the equity balance weighs in the government's favor, and, I suppose, that it is in the public's interest to have the lives of a half million migrants unravel all around us before the courts decide their legal claims.' Jackson's dissent is not the first time she has disagreed with her colleagues on the Supreme Court on a major immigration case during Trump's second term as president. Earlier this month, Jackson was the only justice whose name appeared on the court's momentous decision that allowed the Trump administration to revoke deportation and work protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants.
Miami Herald
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘Death sentence': CHNV ruling upends lives of South Floridians from troubled nations
Activists, lawyers and elected officials warned Friday of chaos and devastation to come after a Supreme Court decision upended the lives of half a million migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela, many living in South Florida, who could face deportation to their troubled nations after losing legal protections under a Biden-era parole program. Among them: Orlando Valecillos, 71, and his wife, Fanny, Venezuelans who used the humanitarian parole program to reunite with their daughter and is scheduled to have an operation next month. 'I hope I won't be deported before my surgery,' Valecillos, who lives in Homestead, told the Miami Herald. 'I've had serious prostate issues, and treatment only began after we arrived in the U.S.' The Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's request to lift a lower court order that protected immigrants coming through the Biden-era parole program from being potentially deported, following an earlier administration decision to strip them of their legal status. The program is known as CHNV, for the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans protected under the Biden administration policy. The litigation in the case continues, but in the short term, many migrants will be left with difficult choices. According to some estimates, as many as half of the migrants who entered the United States through the program have applied for other immigration benefits to adjust their status and may have a path to remain in the country –for example, those who had already applied for asylum or for a green card under the decades-old. Cuban Adjustment Act. But others will need to decide whether they will remain in the U.S. without documentation — potentially facing detention and deportation proceedings — or voluntarily returning to countries wracked by violence, hunger and human-rights abuses. The ruling 'sets a dangerous precedent by allowing the Trump administration to dismantle longstanding humanitarian protections for people fleeing persecution and abuse in countries in crisis', said Ida Sawyer, the director of the Crisis, Conflict and Arms division at Human Rights Watch. 'This marks a shameful betrayal of U.S. commitments under international law and human rights norms. The U.S. should be expanding protections, not closing the door.' Ending the protections granted to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans under CHNV will force many to return to countries experiencing 'widespread violence, repression, and instability—putting their lives at greater risk,' she said. 'Haitians, for example, could be sent back to Port-au-Prince, where they could be subjected to killings, kidnappings, forced recruitment, and widespread sexual violence by criminal groups who control nearly all the capital, and where more than half the population suffers from acute hunger,' she said. Friday's decision, potentially green-lighting deportation orders for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, amounts to the 'largest…de-legalization in the modern era,' said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of the immigration advocacy group Justice Action Center. 'I cannot overstate how devastating this is: the Supreme Court has allowed the Trump Administration to unleash widespread chaos, not just for our clients and class members, but for their families, their workplaces, and their communities,' she said. Elected officials from South Florida, where many of the migrants from the four countries have settled, joined in the criticism. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson called the ruling 'cruel and inhumane' in a post on X. 'These are folks who were escaping brutal dictatorships, gang violence, and turmoil,' she wrote. Wilson noted that the migrants affected by the ruling came to the U.S. legally and have made contributions to South Florida communities. 'Deporting them is a death sentence,' she added. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz echoed the criticism in a post on X, saying it was 'sick and depraved to deport 500,000 people who applied from home, passed background checks, earned work permits, and paid their own way.' She stressed that the migrants are neither criminals nor undocumented. 'They came here legally. But Trump and the Republicans who bow to him could care less,' she added. U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami Republican, said the Supreme Court order must be respected but 'was not what many hoped for.' She too said the migrants came legally to the United States. 'One truth remains undeniable: These migrants entered the United States legally, relying on promises made by the Biden administration,' she said. 'These individuals are fleeing brutal regimes and life-threatening conditions. That's why I strongly urge the administration to use its executive authority and grant Deferred Enforcement Departure to prevent them from being sent back to violence and repression.' Maureen Porras, an immigration attorney and vice mayor of Doral, home to large Venezuelan community, said the decision 'is not only devastating but also unprecedented. Its hard to believe that with the stroke of a pen, about half a million people will lose their lawful immigration status and work authorization.' 'It will have a chilling effect on communities across the U.S.,' she added. Families reeling from the court decision In cities like Miami, migrants who came through the program quickly assimilated into the communities here because they were granted legal work permits and had come to the country sponsored by relatives. But Friday's ruling has left many families again facing separation. Valecillos arrived in the U.S. with his wife in August from Venezuela to reunite with their daughter in Miami. Instead of spending their golden years in peace, Valecillos and his wife have endured the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, which forced them to emigrate twice — first to Chile, where they lived for several years, and then to the United States, where they finally reunited with their only daughter after a long separation. The couple entered the U.S. under the humanitarian parole program, which initially granted them two years of protection through August 2026. But less than a year after arriving, they received a notice from the Department of Homeland Security that their parole had been terminated, once again throwing their future into uncertainty. They have since applied for political asylum. Valecillos says he remains hopeful their application will be approved. Their daughter is a green-card holder, and the family hopes that once she becomes a U.S. citizen, she will be able to petition for her parents to adjust their immigration status. 'We had hoped the election in Venezuela would help fix things. Instead, everything is worse,' Vallecillos said, his voice trembling. 'How are we supposed to go back? If we can't stay here, where are we supposed to go? There's so much uncertainty.' Fear among migrants Friday news also sent shock waves through Miami's Haitian community, which finds itself in a particularly troubling situation. Haitians who have fled rampant gang violence and political turmoil say returning to their home country is simply not an option. Kenny Francois, the CEO of LETS Community Center in Miami Gardens, which serves the Haitian immigrant community, was shocked to learn of the Supreme Court's decision. On Friday morning, while he was at a graduation, he didn't know why he was getting so many phone calls. 'So basically, whatever Trump wants to do, he can just do it,' Francois said. 'You know that was the little hope people had, the Supreme Court? That was the only little hope people were holding on to.' Little Haiti native Sammy Lamy, the founder of Jobs4Us, who has helped place more than 600 Haitians in jobs around the country since the Biden-era humanitarian program was launched, said the next few weeks and months are going to be tough. 'The dream has crashed and reality is hitting,' he said. 'I, of course, don't agree with the decision and now we have to figure out what's next, because a lot of people are in limbo.' Lamy, whose parents were both Haitian immigrants, said the uncertainty and fear from Friday's decision will only deepen, especially among Haitians whose country is being gripped by violence and, in some cases, have had armed gangs taking over their homes. One of the most immediate effects of the ruling is that many migrants will lose their jobs. Amid the uncertainty, companies helping resettle refugees are already refusing to hire migrants whose work authorizations expire in less than six months. 'Even if people have time left on their work permit, they're being denied work because they don't have the necessary time,' Lamy said. Adding to the fear are commercials the Department of Homeland Security is running on popular YouTube programs in the Haitian community, warning folks to leave. 'It's a very daunting commercial,' said Lamy. 'People are scared,' Leaving the U.S. Among the four groups affected, Cuban migrants still might end up with better chances to remain in the country, thanks to the Cuban Adjustment Act, Wilfredo Allen, a Cuban-American lawyer, said. The 1966 law says that after one year in the U.S. migrants inspected by immigration authorities and admitted or paroled into the country are entitled to apply for permanent residency. 'It doesn't matter if their parole is revoked later,' Allen said. Still, he is advising Cuban migrants with several months to go to meet the one-year requirement to apply for asylum if they can, advice he says also applies to Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. Allen said the administration is succeeding 'in spreading chaos and panic' among immigrants, and many will likely choose to leave on their own — which the administration has labeled 'self-deportation' — even if actual deportation proceedings in court take time. Some immigrants have already decided that the risk of sudden detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is too much to face, especially when children are involved. Lilian Bustos, a 42-year-old mother from Nicaragua, had been bracing herself for the termination of the CHNV parole program. She and her two daughters, ages 10 and 17, arrived in the U.S. under the program in August 2023. With less than three months left on their stay, she made the heartbreaking decision to send her daughters back to Nicaragua two days ago. 'It's been devastating,' she said. 'My two daughters have been crying non-stop since they left. My oldest wanted to finish high school here—she was fully adjusted and happy. But I didn't want to break the law. We couldn't apply for asylum because we haven't faced any political persecution.' Bustos feels heartbroken that her 17-year-old daughter couldn't finish high school in the U.S. Now, she says, her daughter will likely face delays in completing her education back in Nicaragua. The family is from Chinandega, a rural region known for fishing and cattle ranching. A trained kindergarten teacher in Nicaragua, Bustos recalls how difficult it was to survive on a single income back home. In Miami, she worked in cleaning services and hoped to save as much as possible before her parole expired. Her goal was to return to Nicaragua and open a small business with her husband—who was unable to join the family in the U.S. under the Biden administration's parole program. Now, with the Supreme Court's ruling casting doubt on the program's future, she's unsure what will happen next, but she said she is also planning to return to Nicaragua to rejoin her family.
The Star
a day ago
- Politics
- The Star
U.S. Supreme Court allows Trump administration ending humanitarian parole for 500,000-plus migrants
NEW YORK, May 30 (Xinhua) - U.S. Supreme Court on Friday lifted a federal district court order that kept humanitarian parole protections in place for more than 500,000 migrants from four countries of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The court has also allowed the Trump administration to revoke temporary legal status for about 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in another case. The move has cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants for now, and pushed the total number of people who could be exposed to deportation to nearly one million, local media reported Friday. To address the growing number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Biden administration created a parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in late 2022 and early 2023, authorizing them to work in the United States for two years after going through certain process. The program protected roughly 532,000 people from the risk of deportation. But soon after beginning his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to terminate all parole programs. Acting on the executive order, Noem in March announced ending the parole program, with any grants of parole still in effect expiring by April 24. A federal district court judge in Massachusetts agreed to halt Noem's blanket revocation of migrants' temporary legal status when a group of 23 individuals including several parolees and a nonprofit organization challenged Noem's termination of the program. The Trump administration first appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, which declined to pause the district court's order pending appeal; and then sought the Supreme Court's intervention.
