Washington, DC — Yesterday, federal Judge Ana Reyes blocked the Trump administration efforts to end TPS for some 350,000 Haitians living legally in this nation, raising families, and contributing to the U.S. economy and their communities. Beyond the importance of the ruling itself, Judge Reyes also offered a scathing critique of the Trump administration and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s motivations and justifications for attempting to end TPS, including:
“Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things — in the public interest is not one of them.”
The ruling from Judge Reyes came amidst a powerful set of examples of solidarity with the Haitian-American community (see below) – the latest reminder that Americans are standing up on behalf of their immigrant neighbors and in contrast to the anti-immigrant ugliness from this administration.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“Decency is alive and well in federal courthouses and places like Springfield, Ohio and Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are in the midst of an important moment where the American majority is saying enough is enough and is pushing back. Judges are ruling against this administration’s anti-immigrant agenda with increasingly harsh language and condemnations. Everyday Americans are speaking out and standing up in solidarity with their immigrant neighbors. And Americans from all walks of life are joining with immigrant community leaders, such as the Haitian TPS advocates who have made such a powerful case, to stand up on behalf of a better vision for this nation.”
Judge Reyes’s language echoed key points long raised by Haitian-American advocates such as Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, who recently stated: “TPS is non-negotiable because it is a lifeline. We cannot force people to return to a burning home. Ending TPS would force families into impossible choices, push U.S. citizen children into poverty and without parents and send people back to conditions that clearly violate both the law and basic human dignity.”
Among the examples of broader solidarity and support for the Haitian-American community:
- New York Times, “Ohio Church Swells With Support for Haitians Amid Deportation Fears,” noting, “They showed up by the hundreds on Monday at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio, a show of solidarity with thousands of local Haitians who have been facing the threat of deportation. Before the 9 a.m. service had begun, at least a thousand people had packed the church, more than double what organizers expected and so many that the fire department made some people leave.”
- Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “Jewish seniors are offering to hide their Haitian caregivers as Trump’s TPS end looms,” noting, “About 500 seniors live at Sinai Residences in Boca Raton, Florida, including many Holocaust survivors. Recently, some of them asked if they could hide the building’s Haitian staff in their apartments. ‘That reminds me of Anne Frank,’ Rachel Blumberg, president and CEO of the center, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. ‘There’s a kindred bond between our residents being Jewish and seeing the place that the Haitians have gone through.’ … “We have a workforce filled with people who weathered COVID in a nursing home. This is no small thing. And now you’re saying they don’t deserve to be in this country? I don’t think so,’ one Jewish senior living director” said.”
- Miami Herald editorial: “‘TPS changed my life.’ Why would Trump send these Florida workers back to chaos?” noting, “Imagine being in the U.S. for 20 years, like Farah Larrieux of Miramar, building a business that employs about 10 contractors and leading a South Florida civic organization — only to wonder whether, in a matter of days, your life will be upended, and you’ll be forced to return to a country you love but that doesn’t have a functioning government and is falling under the control of violent gangs. The plight of Larrieux and other TPS holders probably does not pull at the heartstrings of President Donald Trump and many of his supporters … But the program that allows foreigners to live in the U.S. because of unsafe conditions in their country also wasn’t meant to end when those conditions have not changed — and have actually gotten worse … That defies common sense. Miami’s congressional delegation, which represents one of the nation’s largest Haitian communities, must speak up — and act.”
- Boston Globe editorial: “A threat to Haitian workers is a threat to the Massachusetts economy,” noting, “Haitian immigrants work in crucial health care fields that are already struggling to keep staff. If they lose their right to work in the US, their employers and patients will suffer the consequences.”
