“Protecting Haitian-Ohioans is in the national interest” - Sophia Pierrelus
According to the Springfield News-Sun Liana Castano, DHS Assistant Director for Field Operations, filed a declaration in federal court confirming that it will make plans to arrest Haitian-born individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), if the court allows the federal government to end this protection.
In sum, the News-Sun wrote that DHS indicated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “did not take action to enforce the termination of Haiti’s TPS designation on Feb. 3 because the termination was stayed a day before.” The filing also indicated that “DHS would have acted to enforce the immigration laws if the termination went into effect.” These are quotes from the news article, not the declaration itself, which we just received.
Said Sophia Pierrelus, founder of the New American Cultural Center (NACC) and a Columbus-based leader, “Framing the termination of Haiti’s TPS as a matter of ‘national interest’ ignores the real consequences on families, workers, and communities who have contributed to this country for years. Policy decisions must be grounded not only in authority, but in reality. Ending Haiti’s TPS designation disregards the ongoing humanitarian crisis and places thousands of law-abiding families in immediate uncertainty. It is in our national interest to protect Haitian people who have made Ohio their home.”
The federal government appealed Judge Ana C. Reyes’ 11th hour reprieve for people with TPS on the same day that the President of the United States shared a racist video of President and Mrs. Obama online. “The federal courts cannot allow the U.S. government to make decisions based on racism,” said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “Haitians cannot be sent back to their native country. Many will literally not survive. This threatened government onslaught against Haitian-Ohioans and others around the country is so cruel and so unnecessary. Let Haitians live.”
Said Viles Dorsainvil, Executive Director of the Haitian Community Help & Support Center in Springfield, Ohio, “Haitians have come to Ohio to work and raise their families, with love and hope in their hearts. They contribute to our communities and strengthen the economy. But now they are afraid. They see what is happening across the country and fear that it will happen to them next, even as the termination of Haiti TPS is delayed. It is cruel for government agents to tear people from their homes and bring more trauma to families who have overcome so much to escape violence and insecurity in Haiti. We and our children deserve to have our humanity and dignity respected. We should be able to safely remain in this city we call home.”
Added Wendy Cervantes, Director of Immigration and Immigrant Families at the Center for Law and Social Policy, “For the past year, children in TPS families have been living in uncertainty regarding their families’ immigration status. While we celebrate this temporary halt to the administration’s termination of Haiti TPS, it does not ultimately remove the limbo that Haitian families have been forced to endure. Haitian TPS holders in Ohio and elsewhere followed the federal governments’ processes to stay on track with their immigration status. The administration’s attempt to un-document them and plans to send federal agents to round them up is not ‘immigration enforcement’ — it is yet another cruel attack on families. The federal government should never be responsible for orphaning children or terrorizing deeply-rooted families. ICE must get out of Ohio and all of our nation’s communities.”
Read
“Six ways to help Haitian-Ohioans today,” Ohio Immigrant Alliance
“Springfield Spotlight,” OhioIsHome.org
