Guelmana Rochelin
Haiti’s President Says Trump Got at Least One Thing Right
President Donald Trump may have a point when he says the U.S. is wasting money sending aid to foreign countries. And that’s according to the president of one of Trump’s “shithole” nations.Haiti President Jovenel Moise said he was “taken aback” by the “bizarre” derogatory remark Trump allegedly made about Haiti in a White House immigration meeting last month. First reading about it on Twitter, Moise summoned U.S. diplomats for an explanation, one of whom was “embarassed“ and “at a loss for words,“ he said.
Despite the undiplomatic language, the two leaders would find common ground when it comes to foreign aid. Trump has threatened to cut funding and complained that the U.S. hasn’t received enough in return from foreign countries. Moise said billions have been squandered in Haiti.“Right now in Haiti, the money of foreign taxpayers, your money, is being wasted,” the president said in an interview in Port-Au-Prince. “Every year we receive $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion in aid, or more. However, it’s all consumed in a state of disorder that constitutes public international development aid.”Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has received attention in recent months as Trump has pushed to overhaul U.S. immigration policy, favoring educated, skilled workers over immigrants from poor nations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The administration removed Haiti from a list of countries eligible for temporary work visa programs and plans to end a program protecting tens of thousands of Haitians from deportation.
‘Republic of NGOs’
Trump allegedly described Haiti and unspecified African nations as “shithole countries” in a heated discussion about immigration reform with U.S. lawmakers on Jan. 12. He subsequently posted on Twitter that he, “Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country.”
Moise, an entrepreneur who built a banana export business before taking office just weeks after Trump was inaugurated, said migration benefits all countries and that Haitians have made substantial contributions to the U.S. economy and culture. According to the Pew Research Center, about 110,000 undocumented Haitian immigrants live in the U.S., including those with protected status.Moise aimed his strongest criticism not at Trump, but at the way foreign aid has been administered in Haiti, a country with so many charities it’s been referred to by academics and local press as the "Republic of NGOs.”While he acknowledged Haiti still needs foreign funding, Moise said the Haitian government had been put “in hibernation” while multilateral organizations, charities, foreign governments and non-governmental organizations have wasted billions on development projects that are overpriced and inefficient.“If during the past 40 years the billions of dollars that were spent to assist in Haiti’s development did not provide the expected results, it’s because the paradigm, and approach must change,” Moise, who spoke mostly in Creole and French, said via a translator. “Haiti must have the ability to obtain loans for investments needs, to create wealth, to invest more, to provide electricity 24 hours a day.”
Government Plan
The Caribbean country of nearly 11 million has received $5.1 billion in aid from the U.S. alone since the 2010 earthquake, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The quake devastated the country, killing at least 200,000 people, leaving 1.5 million homeless and leveling much of its fragile infrastructure. Billions poured in from donors in the years that followed.Yet, the money has done little to address poverty. Haiti’s per-capita gross domestic product declined to $761 in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. Neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has a per capita GDP nearly 10 times higher.Haiti’s history of political instability -- marked by a series of coups in the 1990s and 2000s -- corruption and weak institutions have made charities and foreign donors wary of turning over funds to the government.Moise said he has held talks with the IMF, the World Bank, foreign governments and other organizations about giving the government more control. He wants aid agencies to follow a development plan that prioritizes the construction of a nationwide electricity grid, schools and health clinics, reforesting the countryside, and building roads. His four-year plan calls for $1.8 billion of investment.The government last year launched pilot projects in those areas, including one that equipped local public works departments to build roads for a fraction of the price that they were previously being constructed, he said. Moise keeps three toy construction trucks on his nearly empty wood desk in temporary government buildings located beside the remnants of the national palace that was destroyed during the quake.“We’re saying now we want to think of, conceive and implement the development ourselves,” he said. “It’s not that we’re telling our partners to leave, but we want to do it in a state of accountability.”
What A Haitian Entrepreneur And Haitian-American Nurse Can Teach Us About Identity
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“I am a woman first. And then a strong Haitian woman.”
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“I’m very comfortable with my femininity and my assertiveness. In Haitian culture, women are the center of the household; providers and caretakers. Just because I can cook at home doesn’t mean I can’t run a multimillion dollar business. Feminism, to me, is the freedom to be a complex, multidimensional individual without living my life in silos."
Guelmana RochelinGuelmana Rochelin, Founder & CEO of Mana S.A.
Johaida Jean-FranoisJohaida Jean-Franois, Labor & Delivery RN at Boston Medical Center
From government officials to late night comedy hosts, there has been a lot of conversation around Haiti. But, hearing from those who know it best may offer other narratives on Haiti and on identity. Meet Guelmana Rochelin and Johaida Jean-Franois. One is a Haitian immigrant who returned home to build a company, Mana S.A., in Port-Au-Prince. Another is a first-generation Haitian-American who deftly weaves her values into the work she does as a Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse at Boston Medical Center.A Tale of Two LivesGuelmana tells a story of growing up in an idyllic community in Côteaux, Haiti. “…Tranquil, warm, and family-oriented…My great-grandmother lived with us and the entire extended family all lived a stone’s throw from one another.” Even after her family immigrated to the United States and put down roots in Philadelphia, her passion and love for Haiti never abated. In fact, she was so certain of her future, upon becoming a naturalized citizen, she told her parents, “You guys are taking something from me. I can never be President of any country now.” Luckily, she had other ideas of how to impact Haiti. After attending Villanova University and Harvard Business School, she worked at Goldman Sachs and co-founded a healthcare company with her sister, Affinity Healthcare Solutions. But the lure of Haiti always beckoned. Eventually, on a visit back to Haiti, she realized it was time to return and began to build a venture that would provide economic opportunity to the Haitian community, Mana S.A. The idea came from Guelmana’s realization that the small purchasing power of most Haitians made it hard for many to buy a box of cereal. She also observed some very enterprising merchants buy a box of cereal and then sell individual servings of cereal on the side of the road. And with that, Mana S.A. was born. Guelmana imported machines from around the world, built her own production line, created the cornflakes at the facility, and began to make individual servings of cornflakes. And as we learned on Conan O’Brien, many find the cornflakes pretty tasty. Guelmana’s hope is that by providing employees a living wage – one that enables them to not only feed their family, but also invest in their children's education, she will help lay the foundation of Haiti’s future.Johaida’s story begins in Everett, Massachusetts with deep roots firmly entrenched in Haiti. Her mother worked in the telecommunications industry in Haiti and upon immigrating to the U.S., transitioned into healthcare. As the matriarch of the family, her mother served as a spiritual pillar, as well as a constant source of inspiration. According to Johaida, “I have never seen her struggles, but I have always seen the result of her struggles. And they were always good.” Growing up, Johaida was reminded in ways glaring and subtle that she was different. Sometimes it was the bottle of Malta in her lunch as opposed to her fellow students’ Capri juice pouches. Or the incredulous remark when a person with long hair and light skin was discovered to be of Haitian descent. She channeled her frustration and anger in those experiences towards her education. Johaida graduated from Rivier University, successfully passed the NCLEX-RN, her nursing boards, upon first attempt, and following her mother’s footsteps, entered the healthcare industry. She wanted a community focused on the care of others, not dissimilar to the community her mother experienced in Haiti. Johaida chose to work at Boston Medical Center because as the largest safety net hospital in New England, BMC serves a very diverse population. According to their website, 57% of patients are from under-served populations and 32% of patients do not speak English as a primary language. Despite the numerous languages heard throughout the halls of BMC, as Johaida says, she speaks a universal language: comfort in holding a patient’s hand, care in rubbing a patient’s back, and safety in reassuring eye contact.
Being Haitian, Being a WomanI am always curious to see how women live their multifaceted identities. And it was not surprising to see that Johaida and Guelmana had differing views on how to live their complex identities.For Johaida, she emphatically said, “I am a woman first. And then a strong Haitian woman.” Much of our conversation centered around her work caring for so many new women and newborns. Being surrounded by such diverse women going through a common experience drives her strong gender identity.Guelmana’s answer was more complicated. “I’m very comfortable with my femininity and my assertiveness. In Haitian culture, women are the center of the household; providers and caretakers. Just because I can cook at home doesn’t mean I can’t run a multimillion dollar business. Feminism, to me, is the freedom to be a complex, multidimensional individual without living my life in silos."Both emphasize the importance of choices and the refusal to be categorized and put into a box. And despite their different professional paths, both live lives infused with passion, surrounded by community, and guided by family. Johaida and Guelmana approach their multifaceted identities differently, but one common aspect of their narratives holds true – they have a lot of pride in the strength and resilience of the first black republic, Haiti.By: Peggy Yu for Forbes.com | February 1, 2018
GOP Lawmaker Matt Gaetz Slams Haiti: ‘Sheet Metal And Garbage’ Everywhere You Look
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z31C6I9YUbg[/embedyt]Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) slammed Haiti on Tuesday, saying the country is covered with garbage and that conditions there are “disgusting.”
Gaetz was defending President Donald Trump, who last week reportedly dismissed Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries while meeting with lawmakers to discuss immigration.
Trump has denied the comments.
“I would not pick those terms, but I would say that the conditions in Haiti are deplorable, they are disgusting,” Gaetz told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. “I mean, everywhere you look in Haiti, it’s sheet metal and garbage when I was there.”
Earlier in the conversation, Hayes tried to engage Gaetz by asking how he’d feel if someone used Trump’s reported language to describe Florida.
“If I called ― and you’ll forgive me for using the language of the president ― but if I called Okaloosa County a shithole, you’d understandably be upset with that, right?” Hayes asked.
Gaetz, whose district includes much of Okaloosa County, replied:
“Yes; I could also prove you wrong, because I could bring you to Okaloosa County and show you that it’s the home of the most beautiful beaches in America. I don’t know that in Haiti they can make the same claim.”
Trump’s comment set off protests by the Haitian-American community, including a demonstration outside Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Monday.
“I don’t want my kids to grow up thinking their parents are from a shithole country,” protester James Leger said, according to NBC Miami. “We’re asking you to apologize to the Haitians.”
Another protester wanted to remind Trump that Haitian immigrants contribute to America.
“The president does not understand us,” Jean Bruny, a Haitian pastor in West Palm Beach, told the Palm Beach Post on Monday. “We are not coming here to do any bad thing, we are coming here for a better life and to help our family in Haiti. We pay taxes, we buy houses, we contribute to the United States.”By: Ed Mazza for HuffingtonPost.com | January 16, 2018
Trump meets with GOP Haitian-American congresswoman amid fallout from obscene remarks
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uvlvxiKec8[/embedyt] (CNN)Republican Rep. Mia Love discussed immigration with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office for half an hour Tuesday, just two days after she said she believed the President made racist remarks about Haitians during a meeting with lawmakers.
"This morning's meeting was substantive and productive. We discussed the importance and urgency of finding a solution for DACA recipients, on enhancing border security, and on implementing reforms to ensure our nation continues to attract the world's top talent, regardless of race," Love said in a statement issued by her office, referencing the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. "I will work with both parties in Congress as well as with the White House to make sure that we reach an agreement."
"I believe Congress can solve the vast majority of the immigration issues the nation faces. There is already agreement on many important aspects. We need to fight against those who have a vested interest in keeping immigration a wedge issue. This has gone unaddressed for far too long. Let's have a real conversation, so Congress can finish the important work we were elected to do."
Love represents Utah and is the first Haitian-American elected to Congress.
Trump came under fire last week after he asked lawmakers why the United States wanted people from "shithole countries" coming into the US, in reference to immigrants from African countries. The President has denied making the comment. Sens. Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham, a Democrat and Republican respectively who were in the meeting, have confirmed that Trump made those comments.
In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, Love said she had been contacted by the White House to discuss immigration reform. "I don't know if those comments would be made if I was in the room," she said.
"I know the comments were made. I don't know in which context they were made," she said. "I'm looking forward to finding out what happened, but more importantly, I'm looking forward to fixing the problem."
She added that she still believed Trump should apologize.
"I think that there are people that are looking for an apology and I think that that would show real leadership," she said.
Edwidge Danticat's Message To Us All On The Anniversary Of The Earthquake
Today We Mourn, Tomorrow We Fight
"Today, like many of my fellow Haitians and Haitian-Americans, I planned to mourn the dead. I planned to do my mourning quietly and in small doses. I planned to stay busy so I wouldn’t spend the whole day in pain. I planned to check on the children in my family who lost their father and baby brother in the catastrophic earthquake eight years ago. I planned to write notes to friends and family members who were rescued from the rubble by their neighbors. I planned to get through a panel at a literary festival without breaking down in tears. I planned to hold my two daughters a little bit tighter tonight, especially my youngest who was the baby I kept in my arms to keep myself from curling up in a fetal position each time I saw a child being pulled from under a school or house on my television screen. Instead, because the President of the United States, who seems determined to insult Haitians every chance he gets, has said that Haiti--along with “Africa”--is a shithole, I must also lament yet another insult to our dignity.
A few weeks ago, it was “All Haitians have AIDS.” This week we are from a shithole country. Haiti is not unacquainted with racists or white supremacists. We defeated our share of them in 1804 when we became the world’s first black republic. Haiti is not a shithole country. It is a country that, for example, if France hadn’t grown tired of fighting, it would have never sold 828,000 square miles of land to the US, from the western banks of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, nearly doubling the size of this country. Alexander Hamilton said that the Louisiana Purchase would have never happened were it not for the “courage and obstinate resistance of the black inhabitants” of Haiti. We are also the country that the United States has invaded several times, preventing us from consistently ruling ourselves. If we are a poor country, then our poverty comes in part from pillage and plunder. In the 1980s, the US government--claiming that Haitian pigs had swine fever--participated in the extermination of nearly every native black pig, which represented some families’ entire life savings. These same farmers were then “encouraged” to buy the pampered pink pigs of US farmers. This is only one of many examples I could list.
We are also a country where great art, music, and literature have risen from these and a slew of other woes. We are entrepreneurs, big and small, dreamers, workers. We are a country that created people like my father, who drove a taxicab in Brooklyn, sometimes sixteen hours a day, so that my three brothers (two teachers and an IT specialist) and I could have a better life. We are the country that eight years ago lost over 300,000 people whose lives and memory we should be commemorating today, rather than trying to hold our heads up wherever in the world we happen to be. Apparently, the President’s remarks came out of a discussion about Temporary Protected Status, during which he is reported to have said “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.” Mr. President, so many have tried to take us out before. Eight years ago, the earth itself tried to take Haiti out. Yet the courage and obstinate resistance of Haitians remain. We survive, and when given the opportunity, we THRIVE. To borrow a slogan that many Americans of different backgrounds have been using since the beginning of this presidency, today we mourn, tomorrow we fight." - Edwidge Danticat
Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as 'shithole' countries
President Donald Trump referred to African countries, Haiti and El Salvador as "shithole" nations during a meeting Thursday and asked why the U.S. can't have more immigrants from Norway.
Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as 'shithole' countriesWASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday referred to Haiti and African nations as "shithole countries" during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House, a Democratic aide briefed on the meeting told NBC News.Trump's comments were first reported by The Washington Post, which said the group of nations referred to also included El Salvador.The comments came as senators huddled in the Oval Office with the president to discuss a path forward on an immigration deal. Trump questioned why the United States would want people from nations such as Haiti while he was being briefed on changes to the visa lottery system.According to the aide, when the group came to discussing immigration from Africa, Trump asked why America would want immigrants from "all these shithole countries" and that the U.S. should have more people coming in from places like Norway. Thursday's meeting came one day after Trump met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House.Ap source familiar with Thursday's meeting told NBC News the president was particularly frustrated during discussions about the visa lottery system — a program Trump has railed against repeatedly in recent months. Another White House source explained the language Trump used as his way of trying to emphasize his support for a merit-based immigration system.The White House issued a statement that did not deny the remarks."Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told NBC Thursday, as part of a lengthy statement that did not directly dispute the language reportedly used in the meeting."He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans, and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway."Republican congressional reaction trickled in Thursday night, with some statements critical of the reported language calling on the White House to immediately provide an "explanation" or additional "context."But Republican Rep. Mia Love — the daughter of Haitian immigrants herself — released a tough statement calling Trump's comments "unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation's values" and demanding an apology from the president.And Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said in a tweet that the reported remark "ignores the contributions thousands of Haitians have made to our #SoFla community and nation. Language like that shouldn't be heard in locker rooms and it shouldn't be heard in the White House".It’s not the first time reports have surfaced of Trump speaking unfavorably about immigrants, and Haitians in particular. The New York Times reported in December that Trump said Haitian immigrants "all have AIDS," during a summer 2017 meeting about immigration.According to the Times, Trump also targeted Nigerian immigrants during that meeting, complaining that once they came the United States they would never "go back to their huts." The White House vigorously denied the claims in the story at the time.By: Ali Vitali and Kasie Hunt for NBCnews.com | January 11, 2018
Haitian American Students Association Holds Sit-In After Trump Administration’s TPS Decision
“So even if I’m here and I feel good my friends are aware of this I’m still bitter, very bitter.”
“When I say Haiti, you say ‘Rise Up,’” Mathania Toussaint, the PR chair for Haitian American Student Association (HASA), instructed the group of students and allies gathered on the steps of Kimmel Thursday night. Toussaint lead them in the chant, which swelled with each call and response.
This was the scene from the sit-in, organized in response to the Trump administration’s recent decision to strip immigrants of their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). HASA said it was necessary to bring attention to the move, which will affect immigrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan and Haiti, because they believe the issue has been overlooked in discourse regarding immigrant struggles.
“After we first found out about the decision, HASA was kind of scrambling because we found out about it over Thanksgiving break and had a planned meeting,” Toussaint said. “So we flipped everything because this is more important. We need to talk about TPS. Trump has systematically removed immigrants of color from the U.S., it’s been group by group.”
Initially, Toussaint expressed qualms about the prospect of organizing the demonstration because she hadn’t planned a protest before. But the reaction from students, especially Haitian students like sophomore Fatima Julien, made it abundantly clear her decision to highlight this issue was necessary.
“After finding out about the TPS removal, I was like ‘Shit, what are we going to do…What can I do?’” Julien said. “Then finding out about the sit-in I harassed all my social media followers saying ‘Come: if you’re a social justice type I’m taking attendance.’”
“Being here, especially during the chant,” Julien continued, “I got a little emotional but it was good. It feels nice to be able to say that I was here and that my friends know about it.”
Julien, who immigrated to the U.S. two years ago, has family members who will be directly affected by the decision: a sister will have to return and cousins that were trapped under the rubble of the massive 2010 earthquake, will also be forced out of the U.S. In light of their trauma, Julien expressed trepidation about them returning to Haiti.
Despite those fears, she also made it clear she and her family would continue fighting to ensure everyone remained in the states.
The sit-in was planned to operate with the goals of bringing attention to the TPS matter and educating attendees on ways to help those affected going forward. Albert Saint Jean, the New York organizing fellow at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and Ellie Happel an NYU Law graduate, both provided information on the latter.
Saint Jean recommended students reach out to organizations such as Haitian Women for Haitian refugees, Haitian Americans United for Progress and, the one he’s a part of, BAJI. “Because we’re actually in the communities doing work, helping people to get legal access,” he explained.
He added that often the help impacted communities need isn’t complex and can be as simple as assisting a family with filing paperwork.
Similarly, Happel suggested that helping the Haitian community could be very doable right here at NYU — with NYU Law and undergrads collaborating to monitor what’s happening in Congress, in Haitian neighborhoods and responding accordingly.
After the sit-in’s moment of silence for Haitians affected by the cholera epidemic the nation is still recovering from, attendees began to gather their belongings to leave. HASA president, Fabrice Juin, left those gathered with a final message.
“I personally only see things like these — sit-ins — as beneficial and productive if every single one of you leaves the space with more knowledge and ready to help physically and tangibly,” Juin said. “Thank you for showing up but I also want to let you know pay attention and ask yourself ‘What can I do in my own way to help the cause?’”
By: Arimeta Diop for NYUlocal.com | December 11, 2017
Trump Administration Ends Temporary Protection for Haitians
Haitians with what is known as Temporary Protected Status will be expected to leave the United States by July 2019 or face deportation.
The decision set off immediate dismay among Haitian communities in South Florida, New York and beyond, and was a signal to other foreigners with temporary protections that they, too, could soon be asked to leave.
About 320,000 people now benefit from the Temporary Protected Status program, which was signed into law by President George Bush in 1990, and the decision on Monday followed another one last month that ended protections for 2,500 Nicaraguans.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is still struggling to recover from the earthquake and relies heavily on money its expatriates send to relatives back home. The Haitian government had asked the Trump administration to extend the protected status.
“I received a shock right now,” Gerald Michaud, 45, a Haitian who lives in Brooklyn, said when he heard the news. He has been working at La Guardia Airport as a wheelchair attendant, sending money to family and friends back home. He said he feared for his welfare and safety back in Haiti now that his permission to remain in the United States was ending.
“The situation is not good in my country,” he said. “I don’t know where I am able to go.”
Haitians are the second-largest group of foreigners with temporary status. The protection is extended to people already in the United States who have come from countries crippled by natural disasters or armed conflict that prevents their citizens from returning or prevents their country from adequately receiving them. The government periodically reviews each group’s status and decides whether to continue the protections.
The Obama administration renewed the protections for Haitians several times, after determining that conditions in Haiti remained precarious. But the Trump administration, which has sought greater controls on immigration, has said that the program, which was intended to provide only temporary relief, has turned into a permanent benefit for tens of thousands of people.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that after meeting with Haitian government officials and Haitian communities in the United States, it had decided to let the protections end.
“Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of displaced people in Haiti has decreased by 97 percent,” the statement said. “Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens.”
The protection for Haitians was most recently extended in May, by John F. Kelly, the Homeland Security secretary at the time. He allowed only a six-month extension, a shorter one than is typical, saying that the Haitians “need to start thinking about returning.”
The decision on Monday by Elaine Duke, the acting secretary, set a termination date of July 2019 to give people time to make arrangements to leave.
The largest group of Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries, nearly 200,000 people, are from El Salvador. The Department of Homeland Security is scheduled to announce next month whether it will rescind or renew protection for that country, which is plagued with gang violence and high unemployment. The protection applies to Salvadorans who were in the United States without permission on Feb. 13, 2001, and was granted after deadly earthquakes in their home country.
Though Ms. Duke ended protections for Nicaraguans last month, she continued, at least for now, protections for Hondurans despite pressure from Mr. Kelly, now President Trump’s chief of staff, to end them.
Others who now benefit include people from Nepal, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In 2016, the Obama administration decided to end temporary protection for citizens from three West African countries that had been devastated by the Ebola virus several years ago.
The United States offered the protection to Haitians after the earthquake in January 2010 that killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced more than a million and led to a cholera outbreak. Haitians who entered the United States within a year of the disaster qualified for the status.
A variety of American groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the United States Chamber of Commerce and immigrant advocacy organizations had urged the Trump administration to extend the protections again. On Monday, Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, called the decision “unconscionable.”
“There is no reason to send 60,000 Haitians back to a country that cannot provide for them,” he wrote on Twitter. “I am strongly urging the administration to reconsider.”
There is no reason to send 60,000 Haitians back to a country that cannot provide for them. This decision today by DHS is unconscionable. And I am strongly urging the administration to reconsider. Ultimately, we need a permanent legislative solution. https://t.co/Ft0bE0itf6— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) Nov. 21, 2017
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican congresswoman from South Florida, said on Twitter that she had traveled to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010 and after Hurricane Matthew in 2015. “So I can personally attest that Haiti is not prepared to take back nearly 60,000 TPS recipients under these difficult and harsh conditions,” she said.
I travelled to #Haiti after the earthquake in 2010 and after hurricane Matthew in 2016. So I can personally attest that #Haiti is not prepared to take back nearly 60,000 #TPS recipients under these difficult and harsh conditions.— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) Nov. 21, 2017
Those with temporary protection constitute about half of the estimated 110,000 Haitians living in the United States without permanent permission, according to the Pew Research Center. Since Mr. Kelly signaled that Haiti might lose its special designation, thousands of Haitians have crossed the border between the United States and Canada to apply for asylum in Quebec.
Nearly 30,000 children have been born in the United States to Haitians with protected status. Those children are citizens and entitled to stay. Some of their parents may seek to avoid deportation by claiming it would cause extreme hardship to a United States-born child, but that option is limited.
Most will soon have to make a wrenching decision: take their children back to Haiti; leave them with relatives or guardians in the United States; or remain in the country illegally and risk arrest and deportation.
Mark Silverman, an attorney and director of policy at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, said that if they are arrested, they would be entitled to deportation hearings. And contesting their cases “gives them at least seven to 10 years,” he said, because of the long backlogs in the immigration courts.
The decision is sure to be felt in Haiti, where remittances from the Haitian diaspora totaled $2.36 billion in 2016, an increase of 7 percent over the previous year, according to the World Bank. That money represented more than one-fourth of the country’s national income.
But Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which lobbies for restrictions on immigration, said the cancellation of temporary protections for Haitians was “long overdue.”
“The notion that this would be reflexively renewed again and again is a corruption of the entire concept,” said Mr. Stein, adding, “it’s not a refugee program or an immigration program.”
“It’s supposed to be reviewed and it’s supposed to be temporary,” he said.
One of the younger beneficiaries of the program, Peterson Exais, barely survived the earthquake. He arrived in the United States when he was 9 years old to receive emergency medical care after surviving for days under the rubble. He endured more than a dozen surgeries and has become a promising dancer at a magnet school in Miami.
Now 17 years old, he dreams of pursuing studies at the Juilliard School.
“This is very devastating for me,” he said on Monday. “I might not be able to give all that I could give back if I went back to Haiti.”
By: Mariam Jordan for Nytimes.com | November 20,2017
Rally Supports Haitian Immigrants With Temporary Protected Status
BOSTON (CBS) — A rally in Mattapan on Sunday demonstrated support for the local Haitian community as they wait for the Trump administration to decide if they will be deported.
The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program that allows about 5,000 Haitian locally, and 58,000 nationwide to remain in the country. Overall, 320,000 people from ten different countries live in the United States because of TPS.
A rally in Mattahan to support Haitian who might lose their temporary protected status (WBZ-TV)
President Donald Trump has until November 6 to extend the status to citizens of Nicaragua and Honduras. The deadline for Haitians is November. 23.“I’m a student. I’m graduating in about six months. And getting deported would actually stop me from getting my Bachelor’s degree as an accountant so its a whole lot of things we would be deprived of after we’ve worked so hard to accomplish them,” said Marvens Leconte, who was at the rally.
Marvens Leconte (WBZ-TV)
The program was designed for immigrants from countries where natural disasters, war, or other factors make returning unsafe.Without the extension, those residents would have to leave by January.The State Department says conditions in their homeland has improved enough for them to return.Many at the rally said Haiti is still recovering from an earthquake, a hurricane, and a cholera epidemic.“It won’t be safe for us to send 58,000 people back to Haiti right now with everything that is going on so we want to make our voices heard to say that those people deserve an extension because it will take time for Haiti to rebuild,” explained Geralde Gabeau, a rally organizer.The Haitian community is hoping for an 18-month delay.By: CBS Boston | November 5, 2017
Haiti begs for 18-month stay of deportation for Haitians in U.S. after 2010 earthquake
Haiti has asked the Trump administration to grant an 18-month deportation amnesty to its citizens who are already in the U.S., saying the island nation is still struggling to recover from the 2010 earthquake and can’t handle return of tens of thousands of people.Haitian Ambassador Paul G. Altidor, in a letter first reported by the Miami Herald, invited acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke to visit Haiti to see the continued struggles first-hand, saying she would conclude that another 18-month reprieve “is a necessity.”He said an ongoing cholera epidemic and new pressure from last year’s Hurricane Matthew have created new disruptions beyond the earthquake, that have made the country’s recovery tougher.Homeland Security is in the midst of making a decision, but has signaled it won’t simply renew protections, as previous administrations sometimes did.“This is the choice that’s being made is they aren’t going to continue to treat this program in ways that aren’t intended,” said department spokesman David Lapan.The Trump administration earlier this year granted a six-month extension but then-Secretary John F. Kelly — now the White House chief of staff — had signaled that Haitians should be prepared for an end to Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which they’ve enjoyed since the earthquake.Mr. Kelly said the law governing TPS says it is supposed to be a temporary status that’s in place only as long as the conditions from the original disaster remain.The current six-month protection runs out in late January, but a decision must come two months before that.Homeland Security also has to decide on TPS renewals for several Central American countries that have been under protected status since the turn of the century, meaning a pool of illegal immigrants has been shielded from deportation to those countries for more than 15 years.Some 46,000 Haitians are protected by TPS, while 86,000 people from Honduras and 263,000 people from El Salvador are protected.TPS beneficiaries are granted work permits, allowing them to hold jobs, get driver’s licenses and social security numbers and some taxpayer benefits.Mr. Kelly earlier this year said that abuse of TPS by past administrations had created a situation where some of those people who’ve been protected for nearly two decades have put down roots, and may need to be granted full legal status — a move that would have to come from Congress.By Stephen Dinan | October 19, 2017
UN Ending 13-year Military Peacekeeping Mission In Haiti
A U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti that has helped maintain order through 13 years of political turmoil and catastrophe is coming to an end as the last of the blue-helmeted soldiers from around the world leave despite concerns that the police and justice system are still not adequate to ensure security in the country.The U.N. lowered its flag at its headquarters in Port-au-Prince during a ceremony Thursday that was attended by President Jovenel Moise, who thanked the organization for helping to provide stability. After a gradual winding down, there are now about 100 international soldiers in the country and they will leave within days. The mission will officially end on Oct. 15.Immediately afterward, the U.N. will start a new mission made up of about 1,300 international civilian police officers, along with 350 civilians who will help the country reform a deeply troubled justice system. Various agencies and programs of the international body, such as the Food and Agricultural Organization, will also still be working in the country."It will be a much smaller peacekeeping mission," said Sandra Honore, a diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago who has served since July 2013 as the head of the U.N. mission in Haiti known as MINUSTAH, its French acronym. "The United Nations is not leaving."MINUSTAH began operations in Haiti in 2004, when a violent rebellion swept the country and forced then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide out of power and into exile. Its goals included restoring security and rebuilding the shattered political institutions. In April, the Security Council deemed the country sufficiently stable and voted to wind down the international military presence, which then consisted of about 4,700 troops.Many Haitians have viewed the multinational peacekeepers as an affront to national sovereignty. U.N. troops are believed to have inadvertently introduced the deadly cholera bacteria to the country and have also been accused of causing civilian casualties in fierce battles with gangs in Port-au-Prince and of sexually abusing minors.But the mission, with additional help from the U.S. and other nations, is also credited with stabilizing the country, particularly after the January 2010 earthquake, and building up the national police force."The job may not be complete but they have essentially done much of what they were originally designed to do in terms of preventing any kind of armed takeover of the state, in terms of increasing the safety of civilians," said Mark Schneider, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It takes work to maintain that and Haiti needs to maintain that."MINUSTAH, Schneider said, has been key in helping Haiti develop a credible civilian national police from "almost zero" to its current level of about 15,000 officers, which most experts believe is still too small for a country of nearly 11 million. The police force was intended to replace the army, which was disbanded by Aristide in 1995 because of its repeated role in a series of coups and that the Haitian government is now seeking to reconstitute over international objections."Haiti needs an atmosphere of peace so we can take responsibility for ourselves," said Haitian Sen. Jacques Suaveur Jean. "We don't need foreign soldiers."The new U.N. mission will consist of seven police units that can respond to major incidents, in addition to officers deployed throughout the country to advise and assist their Haitian counterparts. Civilians will also be working with the government to improve the country's justice system, which the State Department said in this year's annual human rights report has serious flaws, including severe prison overcrowding, prolonged pretrial detention and an inefficient judiciary.Honore, in an interview ahead of Thursday's ceremony, cited the training and hiring of police officers as one of the U.N. successes.MINUSTAH had already been scaling back before the Security Council voted to end the mission. In the aftermath of the earthquake, which killed 96 U.N. personnel, including former head of mission Hedi Annabi, the number of troops reached more than 10,000. But when Honore arrived there were about 6,200 soldiers from around 20 countries, a figure that dropped again by nearly a third within two years.The cholera outbreak, which started in October 2010 after peacekeepers from Nepal contaminated the country's largest river with waste from their base, killed an estimated 9,500 people and irrevocably damaged the reputation of the organization in Haiti. Many critics felt the U.N. did not adequately respond to the outbreak, something the organization sought to later remedy."It was a fundamental error because it undermined the image not just of MINUSTAH, but of the international community," Schneider said.By: Evens Sanon, Associated Press | October 5, 2017
Rochester Family Torn Apart After Dad Deported
Reginald Castel was deported last Tuesday. The United States government flew him to Haiti in shackles, leaving him on an island he had not seen since he was 8 years old. He does not speak the language of his native country. When the plane landed, he knew no one there.
Castel, 44, went to Gates-Chili High School, sold cars for Vision Hyundai and lived with his family on Bay Street. His sole memory of Haiti was of the house with a metal roof where he lived as a boy. He was in despair as he flew to the island, handcuffed with 12 other Haitians and 49 men from the Dominican Republic.
“I was scared to death,” he said. “I am on the plane just praying to God.”
The plane landed in Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince. The deportees were handed over to Haitian officials who were friendly, at first. When the American officials left, deportees were told to hand over any money in their pockets if they wanted to call someone to pick them up. If no one came, they would be taken to prison.
Castel only had 8 cents, but he was allowed to call his mother in Greece. She had been frantically trying to find a relative or friend to go and get him. She told him that someone had managed to track down his estranged father, whom he had not seen or spoken to since he left Haiti at age 8.
It was his father who arrived to pick him up. “I did not even recognize the man,” Castel said. “One of the officials told me it was my father.”
They hugged each other. His father doesn’t speak English so they were unable to communicate much. Castel said his father pointed to his heart to express love. He pointed to his head to say don’t stress and don’t worry. “He said ‘it has been a long time,’” said Castel. “I understood that.”
They left the facility with Castel’s one bag. It contained the clothes he was wearing when immigration officials took him into custody on Aug. 10, a pack of oatmeal, some legal papers and a 30-day supply of insulin to treat his severe diabetes.
Until Aug. 10, Castel was among more than 900,000 immigrants in the United States living under final orders of removal, or deportation, that had not been enforced. Deportation officials generally focused on people considered to be a threat to national security.
“They didn’t make me a priority under George Bush or Obama,” Castel said, by phone, from a home of his father’s friend in Port au Prince. Under the Trump administration, things have changed.
“With the executive order from President Trump, everybody with a removal order is at risk,” said Wedade Abdallah, program director for immigration for Legal Aid Society of Rochester.
Castel was subject to deportation because he pled guilty to a felony in 1999, after a dispute with his friend Reginald McQueen turned violent. Castel said that McQueen started chasing him with a knife and he ran to his truck to get a gun. “I defended myself,” he said. “I shot Reginald.”
At the time, Castel was a permanent resident with a green card, having come to the United States with his mother at age 8. He was eligible for citizenship, but hadn’t filled out the paperwork. His public defender advised him to plead guilty to assault to avoid risking the lengthy prison sentence that could result from being found guilty in a trial.
The lawyer did not tell him that a guilty plea, and his lack of citizenship, would make him eligible for deportation. Castel served six years in jail. When he was released, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security picked him up and held him in a detention center for 18 months as he appealed his deportation order.He was granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture act because a judge ruled that his lack of ties in Haiti, combined with his need for daily insulin would likely cause him to die in the impoverished country. He was released in 2007 under an order of supervision.The federal government appealed this deferral and won, reinstating the deportation order against him. In 2011, Castel lost his final appeal. But he was not deported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave him permission to work legally and required him to check in periodically. Castel built a career, got married, stayed out of legal trouble and never missed a check-in appointment, including one in Batavia on Aug. 10. His wife Lashanda waited for him outside as he went into the meeting. When she saw him next, he was handcuffed in the back of a patrol car. He was not allowed to get out of the car to give her a hug goodbye.
Every time she saw him after that was through glass at immigration detention centers.
“How do they tear a family apart and think nothing of it?” Lashanda Castel asked. “Where is the humanity in this?”
The laws that led to Castel’s deportation have long been on the books. President Donald Trump is just enforcing them, as promised in his campaign. Five days after his inauguration, Trump issued executive orders directing executive departments and agencies "to employ all lawful means to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.”
He criticized previous administrations for failing to remove people with deportation orders. “We cannot faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States if we exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement,” the president wrote.
In the past undocumented immigrants who had long histories of obeying the law and living quiet lives were not deportation priorities. Trump's executive orders have changed things, said Wedade Abdallah, program director for immigration for the Legal Aid Society of Rochester. “We are seeing a more unpredictable type of enforcement,” she said. "It could be anybody (with a final removal order) at this point." She said she would encourage any immigrant who has a final order of removal to speak to an immigration attorney.
“Make America great,” Lashanda Castel said, with bitterness. “Let’s get the immigrants out of here.” She believes the government ought to make allowances for people like her husband, who has turned his life around and stayed out of trouble for more than a decade.
Reginald McQueen, the man shot by Castel in 1999, agrees. He made a statement in support of Castel that appears in a petition asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to pardon Castel for his crime. Such a pardon would make it possible to reinstate his green card. “An unfortunate incident occurred that caused me harm and got Reggie arrested. However, it was the result of a personal problem between us and we have become friends again,” McQueen wrote, adding that he does not want to see Castel deported. ”I am satisfied that he has paid his debt to society and to me and I don’t think he should be punished any more for what he did. I have my health back and my life back and I would like Reggie to have his life back, too.”
Castel’s life is now spent in a spare room in the home of his father’s friend, a man who speaks a bit of English. Electricity comes and goes, sometimes for days. Clean drinking water is hard to come by. It is hot. Castel has been warned not to go out alone. His lack of language skills makes him an obvious outsider and easy target for desperate criminals found in a country where people must survive on an average of $2.25 a day.
So he sits in the house, waiting for his father to get out of work. He has time to wonder about another deportee he met on the plane who also had no connections in Haiti because he had grown up in Bermuda. “I am pretty sure he ended up in prison,” he said. He wonders what would have become of him if his father hadn’t been found. And, most painfully, he misses his family. He and his wife have a blended family of seven children. His youngest child, a daughter, has taken the situation very hard. There has not been a time they’ve spoken on the phone that she was not in tears. “They took someone who is loved,” said his wife.
She also cries. But she knows that tears won't help her husband return to the United States. If getting him home proves impossible in the short term, she must find a way to get him a stable supply of insulin. Castel suffers with Type 1 diabetes that his physician assistant at Anthony Jordan Health Center called “severe, chronic and incurable.” It requires daily insulin shots, which are extremely difficult to get in Haiti. Castel's plans to visit the Diabetes Association in Port au Prince have been disrupted by unrest and violence on the streets.
Lashanda Castel is trying to navigate the permits, licenses and fees that would allow her to ship insulin to Haiti. She has applied for her passport so she can visit her husband, though she is concerned about U.S. State Department warnings about the risks of traveling to Haiti, including violent crime, instability and lack of adequate medical facilities.
She is buoyed by a group of local supporters including Rochester City School Board President Van White, who is also an attorney and volunteered to submit Castel's petition for the governor’s pardon. The petition includes statements of support from his boss at Vision Hyundai, the bishop of his church and many friends and family members. Rochester City School Board member Mary Adams continues to rally community activists to fight for his cause and to lobby Gov. Cuomo to pardon him quickly.
Adams was among the people who went to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility to try to block the bus when Castel was being taken away for deportation. They could not see him through the tinted windows of the bus, but he saw them standing, praying and protesting his deportation. “I felt hopeful,” he said. “I had people in my corner.”
Those people will host an “Updates and Organizing to Support Reggie Castel and Family” meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Freedom School, 630 N. Goodman Street. All are welcome, said Adams, to join the effort to bring Castel home.
For now, he remains in Port au Prince. He has learned how to say “please,” “thank you,” “I’m hungry,” and “water” in Kreyol. His hope for a return to Bay Street remains. His insulin is running out.
By: Erica Bryant | September 29, 2017
Uncertain Future For Haitian Immigrants
Demonstrators demand continued protection for Haitians who fled crises that still afflict the nationHolden Pierre, a 17-year-old Haitian immigrant, has spent the last ten years of his life growing up America. This January, he may be required to return to a country he has not lived in since he was 7—a country that is still struggling to recover from severe environmental and health crises.Over the course of his decade in the U.S.—more than half his life—Pierre has worked in community organizations such as the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from UMass-Boston, and now is employed at an organization focused on growing small businesses in low- and moderate-income communities.Pierre is one of about 58,000 Haitians who are living, working and studying in the U.S. under a program called Temporary Protected Status. Haitians beneficiaries of that protected status will see it expire on Jan. 22, 2018, unless the Trump administration moves to extend the program, something John Kelly, then-Secretary of Homeland Security, said in May is not guaranteed.Temporary Protected Status Temporary Protected Status allows immigrants meeting certain requirements to live and work in the U.S. if they cannot do so safely in their originating country due to conditions such as a civil war, epidemic or environmental disaster. While TPS is not a path to permanent residency, recipients may apply for such status while they hold this protection. In 2010, TPS was extended to Haitians following a devastating earthquake. To qualify, recipients had to demonstrate they had continually lived in the U.S. since January 2011 and continually been physically present since July 2011. The temporary status was extended since as further disasters hit the country. U.N. troops sparked a cholera outbreak that continues to cause fatalities today, and several hurricanes have taken a toll.State House rally On Wednesday last week, Haitian-Americans United, Inc. and the Institute of Justice & Democracy in Haiti held a rally on the State House steps, with a speaker list that included Pierre. Many speakers called for a deeper reworking of the immigration system to extend permanent residency to Haitians protect by TPS, noting that seven years is long enough that many have families and businesses here and are entrenched in their communities.“They are part of our society,” Congresswoman Katherine Clark said at the rally. “Now is not the time to uproot families, business owners and people who contribute to our economy.”Deportation would mean economic damage as well as the splintering of families, many said.“[TPS means we can] serve the communities we now call home,” Pierre said. “[Without it we] leave behind younger siblings who then are forced to make tough decisions like dropping out of school to support their families.”Roxana Rivera, vice president of SEIU 32BJ, said TPS recipients liable to be deported in January are good actors, who have followed the rules, including paying taxes and any fees asked of them and submitting to any requested background checks.A number of local elected officials support prolonging TPS, including Rep. Russell Holmes and City Councilor and mayoral contender Tito Jackson, who both spoke at the rally. In May, Mayor Martin Walsh urged federal officials to extend protected status for Haitians. In his letter, he noted that families would be split as deported parents are likely to leave behind U.S.-born children rather than bring them to nation already struggling to meet its residents’ basic needs.Following the rally, many attendees turned out to Gov. Charlie Baker’s office to deliver a message urging him to advocate for renewal of TPS for Haiti.Renewal? Several speakers also said that Haiti is still plagued by the kinds of issues that had led to the granting and repeated extensions of TPS. Brian Concannon Jr., executive director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, said Haiti’s cholera epidemic continues to be among the worst in modern times, killing about 1,000 people per month, and that hurricane-related rains are expected to exacerbate the disease’s spread.Rally organizers stated on their Facebook event page that Haiti has yet to fully recover from the 2010 earthquake, cholera epidemic or effects of last year’s Hurricane Matthew or this month’s Hurricane Irma, and cannot safely incorporate 50,000 more residents.In May 2017, Kelly extended Haitian TPS for six months, advising recipients to be prepared to return. He said Haiti demonstrated improved conditions, citing that many of the camps serving those displaced by the earthquake had closed, the Haitian government had declared plans to rebuild the president’s residence and the U.N. had withdrawn its stabilization mission. He said at the time that he expected the six months would allow TPS recipients and the Haitian government to prepare for repatriation.According to Haitian-Americans United, Inc., the Trump administration is expected to decide by Oct. 23 whether to extend TPS for Haitians past the Jan. 22, 2018 expiration date. TPS recipients from other countries such as El Salvador and Honduras also faced deadlines on their status.
By: Jule Pattison-Gordon | September 28, 2017
'Anywhere But Haiti': Asylum Seeker Retraces His 15,000-km Odyssey To Canada
Travelling by boat, bus and on foot, treacherous journey from Brazil ends at Roxham Road, Que.When Pierre left Cap-Haïtien for South America, he never imagined he'd wind up in the woods of upstate New York.But nine years and 10 countries later, he stepped into Canada and was arrested by the RCMP.He had survived a two-and-a-half-month, 15,000-kilometre odyssey from Brazil to Roxham Road with his wife and seven-year-old son, through some of the most dangerous territory in the Americas.By plane, by boat, by bus, taxi or on foot, the destination was always the same: "Anywhere but Haiti."Pierre is not his real name. CBC News has agreed to protect the identities of the 30-year-old Haitian and his family to prevent any potential impact on their asylum claim in Canada.
Building a life in Chavez's Venezuela
A self-described socialist, Pierre left Haiti in 2008 to study in Venezuela. He made a new life for himself in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, where he worked as a warehouse manager.Pierre left Haiti to study music in Venezuela in 2008, later studying accounting and administration. (submitted by Pierre)When the revolutionary president died in 2013, Pierre went south to Manaus in the Brazilian state of Amazonas.But work dried up, so in 2016 he decided to head north to "conquer the American dream."It's a path countless others have taken — a backwoods channel for waves of undocumented Latin Americans, Africans, South Asians, Haitians and Cubans seeking a better future.It's also a route fraught with exhaustion, fear, robbery, rape and death.
Desperate journey through the Darien Gap
With his wife and child, Pierre set out on June 16, 2016, crossing into Venezuela from Brazil."It wasn't easy to get into Colombia, but with a lot of tenacity we managed," he said.From there the family boarded a bus to the Colombian port town of Turbo, where the South American stretch of the Pan-American Highway ends.There they joined a group of 100 or so other migrants - Cubans, Africans and other Haitians ready to make the same desperate journey."From Turbo, we took a little boat," Pierre recalls. "Many people died because some boats sank. But we arrived at the entrance to the Darien Gap."The Darien Gap is a lush rainforest on the border of Colombia and Panama, thus named because it's a break in the Pan-American highway.Migrants must travel through the untamed wilderness on foot.
"Crossing the Darien Gap was a very cruel experience," says Pierre. "I spent six days in the mountains with no food and no water.""So as not to get dehydrated, my family and I had to drink our own urine."The migrants also had to avoid snakes and other wild animals lurking in the dense forest."Many people died," Pierre says. "But we had to go on because otherwise, we'd die too. Whenever my son thinks about it, he cries."This video was taken by other Haitian migrants while crossing the Darien Gap.
Smuggled across Nicaraguan border
After 15 days in Panama and a bus ride to Costa Rica, authorities stopped them at the Nicaraguan border."It was really tough to get across," says Pierre."We had no papers."
Stuck at the border and living in tents, Pierre paid smugglers nearly $3,000 US to get him and his family into Nicaragua.
Others were not so lucky."Some were ripped off and never did get across," he says. "There were many bandits who raped people when they were going through the forests."Once in Nicaragua those that made it took a bus through Honduras and Guatemala to Mexico.Pierre says Mexican authorities gave them passage on the condition they move on to the USA.But arriving at the American border in Tijuana, Pierre was detained and spent nine days in lockup.Upon release, he moved his family to Florida.
Taste of the American dream
Pierre got a work permit while his U.S. asylum claim was processed, working as a check-in manager at the Orlando airport and at Disney World."I worked and waited for the [asylum] process to run its course," Pierre says. "But when Donald Trump came to power things got complicated."He was worried that without permanent status, he and his family could be deported at any time.Then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted his support for refugees during Trump's efforts to enact a travel ban from Muslim-majority countries, and Pierre turned his eyes northward.
To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada— @JustinTrudeau
"When [Trudeau] said, 'Canada's ready to welcome refugees,' I said, 'Well, if that's the case, I'll come to Canada,' because I'm looking for a better life."So the family flew to Plattsburgh, N.Y., and boarded a bus to the border, crossing into Canada illegally at Roxham Road and making an asylum claim."When [Trudeau] said, 'Canada's ready to welcome refugees,' I said, 'Well, if that's the case, I'll come to Canada,' because I'm looking for a better life."- Haitian asylum seeker Pierre, 29They spent 24 hours in a temporary camp near the border, then two weeks living in the shelter set up at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.The family now has an apartment, and Pierre is trying to get a work permit while he awaits his Immigration and Refugee Board hearing.
Accusations, beatings and stabbings back home
In his asylum claim, Pierre says he can't go back to Haiti because his family is being targeted by a gang of street criminals.
He says the trouble started in 2009 when a woman in his neighbourhood accused his father of witchcraft and threatened to have a gang attack him with machetes.Pierre says his father fled but the gang beat up his mother. He has copies of statements to the local police to help prove his story and a picture of his mother after the beating.He claims the same group of thugs attacked him for his political views in 2010 on a visit home, accusing him of trying to organize an uprising against the government.Then just this year, Pierre says his brother was stabbed by the gang and had to move his family to another part of the country."It's a country with no justice," Pierre says. "If I go back there they'll kill me."
'Such a cruel journey'
Sitting in a coffee shop near Jarry Park in Montreal's Villeray neighbourhood, Pierre sketches out a drawing of his long journey on the back of one the myriad documents and forms that make up his refugee case file.The map fills the page. His home country is conspicuously absent.Pierre sketches his journey from Brazil to Roxham Road."We left the U.S. because we were scared they'd deport us to Haiti," he says."In Haiti most people are unemployed. It's miserable. There are kidnappings all the time."Pierre hopes the Canadian government will give extra consideration to those like him who have come so far."Such a cruel journey," he says. "It was a very hard road to get here."By: Simon Nakonechny | September 26, 2017
Trump’s priorities in Haiti, according to new US Chargé d’Affaires
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (sentinel.ht) – In Port-au-Prince, Robin Diallo, the new chargé d’affaires for the U.S. Embassy here held a press availability with several journalists on Friday. The diplomat gave an overview of several hot topics shaping the Trump administration’s relations with Haiti.According to an article published in Le Nouvelliste, Mrs. Diallo acknowledged major issues that are of utmost concern, that have arisen since her arrival. These would be the threat posed by the passing of Hurricane Irma and the demonstrations of protest against the budget of fiscal year 2017-2018.To these matter, the Embassy delivered the customary message of hope:
“The partnership between Haiti and the United States would not end with an administration. Haiti and the United States have long been true partners, and it will continue.”
However, the chargé d’affaires’ confidence in the continuation of the Haiti-US partnership did not allow her to say anything definitive or in the lease consequential regarding the hottest topic of the day, the expiring Temporary Protected Status.To the question of whether there is a chance that the status of temporary protection (TPS) will be renewed before January 23, 2018, she replied:
“I do not know. I can not guess… we discussed it a lot in Washington and Haiti even before I arrived. Now, the discussions are continuing…”
Mrs. Diallo deflected further questioning on the matter by saying that the Temporary Protected Status program is not a decision of the embassy but of the US government to decide whether to extend it or not.The end of the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which has received much of its funding from the United States, is a matter of focus on the U.S. side. It has always been the U.S. approach to closely coordinate with the Haitian National Police through its security agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigations for examples.
“We already have a lot of special programs with the national police to strengthen security in Haiti. Now, we will work on the protection of the land border…”
The supervision of PNH agents by instructors and trainers from the USA goes back more than 20 years and more than once, according to Le Nouvelliste, Robin Diallo argued that the United States would continue to support the police institution.
“We have done a lot of work with the PNH. We are confident that the PNH can ensure the security of the country…”
The priority areas of intervention of the United States remain unchanged according to the diplomat. The priorities it has listed are particularly relevant to the health sector.
“We are already doing a lot of work in the health field to fight and treat HIV, tuberculosis, we are also promoting reproductive health and vaccines… [we plan to] strengthen civil society and support the judiciary. We also have education programs, exchanges and coaching…”
Another favorite playground of the US representative in Haiti is the issue of direct employment created in the country by US investments. “We are trying to promote trade with American companies,” she said.In an exclusive interview with Le Nouvelliste last week, she relied on the 12,000 people who work in Caracol and the additions to this project: water, electricity, education, as talking points of a success.Regarding the Permanent Electoral Council (CEP) that the three powers of the state are trying to set up, Diallo believes that “this is very important for the country.”
“Everyone in a democracy believes that independent and transparent elections are very important. [Such a process must] have a permanent CEP and ensure that the elections run smoothly. “
Robin Diallo, the new American diplomat in Haiti, a career diplomat, recently served as Minister of Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. She previously served in Afghanistan and the Philippines.Samuel Maxime Editor-in-Chief; The Haiti Sentinel - Monday, September 18, 2017
After 12 years in U.S., Stamford student may be ordered back to Haiti
STAMFORD — Mary was 8 years old when she stepped off a plane from Haiti with her older sister to visit their ailing grandmother in Stamford.
What was meant to be a short trip with their mother was unexpectedly extended after Mary’s 10-year-old sister wound up hospitalized for four months with a bacterial infection. After the girl’s recovery, doctors advised the family that she not return to Haiti.
That was the summer of 2005, six years before a magnitude 7.0 earthquake would devastate the island nation, killing 220,000 people and displacing 1.5 million.
The disaster prompted the U.S. government to extend what’s known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitians without permanent legal residency. The designation is afforded to immigrants who are unable to return to their home countries because of humanitarian emergencies.
Along with her family, Mary, who did not want her real name used because of her immigration status, ended up staying in Stamford while her mother petitioned for legal status. They were ultimately denied, but then came TPS, which has enabled them to remain in the U.S. for the past six years.
This may change under new orders from the Trump administration that could put an end to TPS for Haitians and send 58,000 immigrants — including up to 150 in Stamford and 750 statewide, according to one attorney’s estimate — back to an impoverished country still reeling from one of the worst natural disasters in recent memory. The move is yet another example of the immigration upheaval set into motion under President Donald Trump.
For someone like Mary, a lot has changed since leaving Haiti, a country the 21-year-old can now barely recall. She went on to enroll in Stamford public schools and excelled academically, landing a scholarship to study civil engineering at a Manhattan college. Her sister became a registered nurse.
With a year left in school, Mary worries about being ordered back to Haiti before she can graduate. At this point, she has no family there — her father disappeared after they left for the U.S. — and says she wouldn’t know where to stay or how to navigate life there.
“All I remember is that it wasn’t particularly safe,” said Mary, who lived an hour outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. “We stayed inside our house and went to school and came back.”
Mary and her family could be ordered to leave the country as soon as Jan. 22, when the most recent extension of Haitian TPS expires. TPS for Haiti and 12 other nations, including El Salvador, Honduras, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and Nepal, is re-evaluated for continuation every 18 months.
In May, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it would extend Haitian TPS for just six months, and encouraged recipients like Mary to prepare for their return. At the time, then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said the agency would announce 60 days before the January deadline whether it may extend Haitian TPS again. Thousands of Haitians are anxiously awaiting the decision.
Activists like Angelucci Manigat, editor and publisher of The Haitian Voice, a monthly newspaper once based in Stamford, have called for TPS to be extended for the standard 18-month period. Meanwhile, he said, Haitians have begun fleeing over the Canadian border to seek asylum in anticipation of a canceled TPS.
Manigat said Haitians, who make up at least 4 percent of Stamford’s population, are frightened of attracting attention. They are avoiding churches and community centers that were once well attended, and fear doing everyday things like picking up their children from day care or paying a parking fine, he said.
“People are really, really scared,” said Manigat, who now runs his publication out of Bridgeport. “Community leaders are trying to prepare them for the worst. It doesn’t look good, but we’re waiting to see what happens. A lot of people are in denial.”
Mayor David Martin in May joined a coalition of city leaders from across the country who signed a letter to Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging a longer extension of Haitian TPS, which would have ended on July 22 without the six-month continuation.
Philip Berns, a Stamford immigration attorney who has about 30 clients with Haitian TPS — and estimates there could be up to 150 impacted citywide — said he is preparing clients for what comes next.
For many TPS Haitians who have lived peaceful and productive lives in the U.S., “what it will feel like is not deportation, but exile,” said Berns, who added that Haiti has still not recovered from the 2010 earthquake. Many say Hurricane Matthew last year undid much of the progress made since the earthquake.
“Things have not seriously changed in Haiti,” Manigat said. “The government still doesn’t do much for the people.”
People like Mary have been in the U.S. for so long they don’t know a life back in Haiti, Berns said.
“This young lady is basically, in her heart and soul, an American,” he said. “She would be sent a to a country where she’s barely familiar with the culture and language, and completely out of her element.”
Mary said she understands the challenge the U.S. government faces managing a program like TPS, and deciding which undocumented immigrants out of many get a reprieve from deportation.
“It’s a temporary solution,” she said. “It’s not a status that’s made for assimilation.”
In the meantime, life for people like Mary is a high-stakes game of wait-and-see.
“The thing that makes me worry is that I don’t know will happen,” she said. “But it’s also my calming factor — that I don’t know what will happen.”
By Liz Skalka | August 5, 2017
Trump Thinks This Is Pro-Life?
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — When President Trump and his (male) aides sit at a conference table deciding to cut off money to women’s health programs abroad, they call it a “pro-life” move.
Yet here in Haiti, I’ll tell you the result: Impoverished women suffer ghastly injuries and excruciating deaths. Washington’s new women’s health policies should be called “pro-death.”
When women and girls don’t have access to family planning and reproductive health care, they’re more likely to suffer pelvic organ prolapses, in which the bladder, uterus or bowel may protrude from the vagina. Or they suffer a fistula, a childbirth injury that leaves them leaking urine or feces, stinking and ostracized, and sometimes unable to walk. Women with prolapses or fistulas sit in their huts, humiliated, wondering if they are cursed, waiting to die.
In a room here in the Haitian capital, women with cervical and breast cancer wait for nurses to examine their ulcerated bodies. Beyond their almost unbearable physical pain is their mortification that they smell of rotting flesh, and in some cases incontinence. They are heroic in their quiet refusal to give up.
It’s not that these horrific conditions are caused by U.S. policy, but Trump is now halting all funds for many organizations working tirelessly to prevent this suffering. First came the “global gag rule,” ending funding to overseas health aid groups linked in some way to abortion, including counseling that mentions it as an option.
The latest is that Trump just cut every penny the U.S. provides the United Nations Population Fund. This organization has nothing to do with abortions but is a central player in the global effort to fight for women’s health.
“If the U.N. Population Fund has less money, more impoverished women in Haiti will die,” said Holdie Fleurilus, a nurse at Innovating Health International, which runs the cancer center I visited.
Across town, Dr. Raymond Fleurimon, the medical director of the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital, was equally blunt: “If U.N.F.P.A. is out of the game,” he said, using the initials of the fund’s old name, “this maternity ward will collapse, it’ll be completely dysfunctional, and more women will die.”
“What a nightmare,” warned Dr. Rahel Nardos, a women’s health expert, cautioning that less money for the fund meant more prolapses and fistulas.
Republicans pushed to cut off the money because they think the fund colludes with China’s government in forced abortions there. But I lived in China for years, reporting extensively on the subject — and the critics have it all wrong.
Yes, China has relied on forced sterilizations and forced abortions. The U.N. Population Fund initially was oblivious, and in 1983 it stupidly gave a gold medal to the Chinese official overseeing forced abortions. But that’s history, and for decades the fund has put strong pressure on China to end the coerced abortions.
Moreover, the fund persuaded China in 1992 to switch to a more effective IUD, averting half a million abortions a year. Over the years, that’s 12 million abortions the Population Fund has prevented there. Can any anti-abortion group match that?
Those affected by Trump’s cutoff of funds for women’s health are people like Darling Leonce, a pregnant 16-year-old I met when she showed up for a prenatal exam at a one-day clinic set up in a remote part of southeastern Haiti. The clinic was supported by the U.N. Population Fund, and it was the first interaction Darling had ever had with a doctor or nurse in her life.
Darling never went to school, can’t read or write, and had never heard of birth control. Yet here she received her first-ever physical exam and was encouraged to deliver in a hospital rather than in her village. A nurse coached her on breast-feeding, gave her prenatal vitamins and acquainted her with contraception.
“Choose your partner carefully, and don’t have a kid just because you have a boyfriend,” the nurse advised.
Politicians in Washington don’t have a clue about the hideous things that happen when women are marginalized and health care is unavailable. What the Population Fund does is help girls like Darling avoid unwanted pregnancies and the nightmare of a fistula, a prolapse or cancer. That’s why The Lancet medical journal called Trump’s cutoff of funds “misogyny.”
Oh, and on abortion — one more thing.
When contraception is unavailable, people find ways to get abortions even where it’s illegal, as it is here. On my way back to the capital from the one-day clinic, I stopped at a pharmacy in a small town and asked for misoprostol, an abortion drug. For $15, the sales clerk handed over more than enough pills for an abortion.
The birth control provided by the U.N. Population Fund averted more than 3.7 million abortions last year alone, health advocates say. So if you’re against abortion, you should support the U.N. Population Fund, not try to destroy it.
Yet a group of blundering men in the Trump administration posture as moral leaders, and the result is that women in places like Haiti will suffer fistulas, prolapses and agonizing deaths in childbirth or from cervical cancer. Some of these women will be humiliated by the failures of their flesh, but the real shame belongs to sanctimonious zealots in Washington who don’t have a clue what they’re doing.
And this is pro-life?
Nicholas Kristof | APRIL 22, 2017
Trump administration wants evidence of Haitian immigrants' crimes as it considers humanitarian aid options...
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is taking the unusual step of hunting for evidence of crimes committed by Haitian immigrants as it decides whether to allow them to continue participating in a humanitarian program that has shielded tens of thousands from deportation since an earthquake destroyed much of their country.The inquiries into the community's criminal history were made in internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services emails obtained by The Associated Press. They show the agency's newly appointed policy chief also wanted to know how many of the roughly 50,000 Haitians enrolled in the Temporary Protected Status program were taking advantage of public benefits, which they are not eligible to receive.The emails don't make clear if Haitian misdeeds will be used to determine whether they can remain in the United States. The program is intended to help people from places beset by war or disasters and, normally, the decision to extend it depends on whether conditions in the immigrants' home country have improved enough for them to return. But emails suggest Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who will make the decision, is looking at other criteria."I do want to alert you ... the secretary is going to be sending a request to us to be more responsive," Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, the USCIS head of policy and strategy, wrote on April 27. Addressing the inability of agency employees to gather the requested information about wrongdoing, she said: "I know some of it is not captured, but we'll have to figure out a way to squeeze more data out of our systems."The request for criminal data for an entire community is unorthodox. The law doesn't specify it should be a consideration for Temporary Protected Status and the government has never said it would use criminal rates in deciding if a country's citizens should be allowed to stay under this program. Introducing new criteria is likely to cause consternation among law-abiding Haitians who may feel they are being penalized for the wrongdoing of their compatriots.But the request fits in with President Donald Trump's broader, tough-on-immigration focus that is a core demand of his political supporters. He has enhanced efforts to arrest people living illegally in the United States and sought, unsuccessfully so far, to suspend refugee arrivals and temporarily block visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. He has accused those in the U.S. illegally of fueling criminality in the U.S.It is unclear if the agency is asking such questions about other recipients of the temporary protection, including immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador.The Homeland Security Department said Kelly has not made a final decision about Temporary Protected Status for Haiti and declined to comment on the process.Temporary Protected Status is intended to be just that, temporary. The Obama administration included Haiti in the program shortly after the January 2010 earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people and devastated schools, hospitals, homes and even entire neighborhoods. Since then, Haitians have been eligible to stay regardless of how they entered the United States — legally or illegally — as long as they were residing in the U.S. before Jan. 12, 2011.Eligibility for Haitians has been extended several times and is set to expire July 22. The Trump administration must decide by May 23 so that it can provide 60 days' notice about its plans.USCIS' acting director has recommended letting the program expire. In an April 10 memo first reported by USA Today, James McCament said Haiti is no longer in crisis despite its poverty and political instability. However, he wants to allow the Haitians to stay until January so they have time to make arrangements to voluntarily leave. If they don't depart the U.S. by then, the government could move to deport them.Still, Homeland Security's Kelly has the final word.The emails inquiring about misdeeds were sent from April 7 to May 1.In her first week on the job, Kovarik, the policy chief, asked officials how often Haitians with temporary status have been convicted of "crimes of any kind," and how many have taken advantage of public benefits. She asked for that information in four separate emails. She also asked how much money Haitians have sent home and how often they've traveled back to Haiti. Left unsaid is that frequent travel could suggest improved conditions."Please dig for any stories (successful or otherwise) that would show how things are in Haiti - i.e. rebuilding stories, work of nonprofits, how the U.S. is helping certain industries," Kovarik wrote on April 28. "We should also find any reports of criminal activity by any individual with TPS. Even though it's only a snapshot and not representative of the entire situation, we need more than 'Haiti is really poor' stories."The emails were largely directed to non-political employees. They responded by saying much of the data were not available or were difficult to find in government records systems.Criminal fingerprint records, for instance, don't generally indicate if a suspect has Temporary Protected Status. And the employees said the public benefits request was almost impossible to answer because TPS participants aren't eligible for most.About the only firm information Kovarik's queries turned up, according to the emails, is that Haiti benefited from about $1.3 billion in remittances from the United States in 2015. Officials said they could only guess how much came from the temporarily protected group, which comprise only a fraction of the estimated 954,000-strong Haitian diaspora in the United States.Maria Odom, a former Citizenship and Immigration Services ombudsman who served in the Obama administration, said she was puzzled by the inquiries about criminal activities. She said the government already checks criminal histories of applicants and denies protections to those who've broken U.S. laws."You should not craft a humanitarian policy based on the few," said Odom.NYdailyNews
50,000 Haitians face being deported by Trump back to country still reeling from natural disasters
More than 50,000 Haitians are at risk of being deported to a country still reeling from a series of natural disasters, after Donald Trump’s immigration agency recommended ending their temporary right to live in the US.Up to 55,000 Haitians are living in America under so-called temporary protected status (TPS), initially granted to them after the 2010 earthquake, that killed an estimated 150,000 people.The status has been updated every 18 months, as Haiti has confronted the challenges of a cholera epidemic triggered by UN peacekeepers, a sexual abuse scandal involving those peacekeepers and political uncertainty following the postponing of elections that eventually saw Jovenel Moïse become president.
But James McCament, acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, has recommended Mr Trump end their starus. He said there should be a temporary, six-month extension to allow a period of “orderly transition” but that people should then return.The revelation, first reported by the Miami Herald, has triggered intense concern among the Haitian community in the US, and their supporters.“Anxiety is extremely high. They are calling me and asking me what they should do,” Emmanuel Depas, a former president of the Haitian American Lawyers Association of New York, told The Independent.“The temporary status is not necessarily a path to a green card, but it gives people the right to work here.”Campaigners said the threat of deportation could result in the splitting up of families, if the parents of children born in the US were forced to leave. Others have questioned whether Haiti, where more than 1,000 people were killed last October by Hurricane Matthew, the most powerful storm to make landfall there since 1964, is able to handle the return of so many people.Hurricane Mathew leaves Haiti orphans homelessNana Brantuo of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, said: “From what we’ve heard, they are going to terminate this status. Then these people will be undocumented, and likely to be deported.”She added: “As black immigrants, they are in a state of vulnerability.”The decision on whether or not to end the Haitians’ temporary protected status falls to with Secretary of Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly. His department said in a statement: "Secretary Kelly hasn't yet made a decision and we don't discuss pre-decisional documents."In his letter to Mr Kelly, Mr McCament said a review of the situation in Haiti led his organisation to conclude the conditions “no longer support its designation for TPS”.“Although Hurricane Matthew recently caused a deterioration of conditions in Haiti’s south-west peninsula, overall conditions in the country have continued on an upward trajectory since the 2010 earthquake,” he wrote.
Jovenel Moïse was elected Haiti's president last November (AP)“The institutional capacity of Haitian government to respond to the lingering effects of the earthquake remain weak, but the US government is actively working to strengthen the Haitian civil service and government service delivery.”Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with an average per capita annual income of about $1,700 (£1,365). Educational and medical facilities are inadequate and overburdened. Around 3.2m people - approximately 30 per cent of the population - suffer from food insecurity.The US, the regional power, has long interfered politically in the country, less than a two-hour flight from its coastline. In 1991, the first democratically elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in a coup backed by the CIA. He was returned, under a deal brokered by Bill Clinton, only to be forced into exile again in 2004, with his opponents once more receiving the backing of elements in Washington.In recent years, UN peacekeepers have been accused of indiscriminate killing of civilians. In the aftermath of the earthquake, UN peacekeepers from Nepal were almost certainly responsible for an outbreak of cholera that killed at least 10,000 people and made more than 700,000 ill.Indeed, Mr McCament’s letter pointed out the country is still facing problems in housing, health, the economy, sanitation services, gender-based violence and overall security.“Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere and it had enormous problems before the 2010 earthquake,” he wrote. “Even before the earthquake, the Haitian government could not, or would not, deliver core functions to the majority of its people.”Reaction to the proposal to end the TPS has met with criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.“Haiti is still struggling to recover from two major natural disasters that killed more than 200,000 people. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and right now it’s unable to support the roughly 50,000 Haitians that are currently receiving protected status here in the US,” said Democratic senator Bill Nelson of Florida. “The US should be focused on helping Haiti recover, not sending people back to a country that can’t support them.”Republican senator Marco Rubio, also from Florida, was among a bipartisan group that has written to Mr Kelly urging him to extend TPS.By: Andrew Buncombe for independent.co.uk| May 1, 2017