Concerned members of South Florida’s Haitian community came together this weekend as fear and uncertainty continues to spread due to the Trump administration’s decision to officially end their temporary protected status.
Haitian immigration leaders and activists gathered Sunday inside The Katz, a restaurant and lounge along Northeast 125th Street in North Miami, to discuss what lies ahead for the community, says after the Department of Homeland Security announced the upcoming termination of TPS for Haitians.
What underscored the urgency of the gathering is the sobering reality that half a million Haitians face deportation, and they are now figuring out their next steps.
“It’s going to be very hard,” said Micaelle Titus.
Titus said she has her U.S. citizenship, but she’s worried for her loved ones.
“I came here when I was 11 years old, so these people, I think, should be given an opportunity to do the same,” she said.
Speakers at the event discussed strategies and tools available to Haitian families in South Florida who fear being deported back to Haiti and possibly being separated from their families.
Among the speakers was Tessa Pettit, a Haitian American and executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
“I am angry, because we are now in [an] America that sends people to their death, which is not what America used to stand for,” she said.
The termination of TPS applies to about 500,000 Haitians who are already in the United States, some of them for more than a decade.
Despite their resources, activists said they need help.
“We’re talking about families that have had TPS since 2010. These are people who do not have a life in Haiti, who have built something here,” said Pettit. “We’re going to need the community to help them figure out what they are doing with their assets. What are they doing with their minor U.S. children who they cannot bring back to Haiti?”
DHS officials said the conditions in Haiti have improved, but activists at Sunday’s North Miami gathering said gang violence continues and has displaced 1.3 million people across the country, as their local government and international community continue to struggle.
“I know that it is not safe, that right now, in Port-au-Prince, there are no flights. To tell the American people that Haiti is safe and that the environmental situation is conducive to send individuals back, I believe was dishonest,” said Haitian resident Naomi Esther Blemur. “People on TPS, these people needed a relief, and they gave them a process to follow. They followed the process. The least you can do is honor that and give them a pathway to citizenship.”
TPS for Haitians expires on Aug. 3, and the termination will go into effect on Sept. 2.