NORTH MIAMI, Fla. — Tens of thousands of South Floridians from Haiti with Temporary Protected Status are on the cusp of losing their deportation protections and work permits. Many of these individuals are employed in Miami-Dade’s healthcare sector, including local nursing homes.
Beyond the anticipated disruption to the local workforce and economy, Catholic Health Services has warned that the impact could trickle down to the bedsides of seniors countywide.
“It is mostly our patients, our frail and vulnerable, that will feel the impact the most,” said Dr. Brian Kriedrowski of Catholic Health Services. “This trickles all the way down to the bedside.”
The U.S. originally designated Haiti for TPS after determining that conditions in the country prevented nationals from returning safely.
However, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem terminated the status after a review determined that Haiti no longer qualifies. This decision comes at a time when the U.S. State Department maintains a Level 4 “do not travel” advisory for the gang-riddled nation.
Paul Christian Namphy, of the Family Action Network Movement, pointed to what he describes as a double standard in the policy.
“It shows the hypocrisy and the cruelty and the double standards of the same folks who are saying to U.S. citizens, ‘Haiti is not safe,’ while these same folks are saying Haiti is safe enough to deport Haitian immigrants,” Namphy said.
Sui Chung, the executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, noted that the legal challenge against the termination involves several factors.
“The issues that are on the table is that DHS failed to properly follow the law when the decision was made to terminate TPS for Haiti,” Chung said. “Part of it is also an argument of racial animus that Haitians are Black so there are a lot of different issues that are at stake here.
“Hopefully the correct decision comes forward and this termination does not go forward.”
Chung also emphasized that TPS holders are a vetted population.
“Every time Haitian TPS holders have had to renew their TPS work-related papers,” whether for work authorization or application renewal, “they have had to undergo background checks,” Chung said.
All eyes are now on Washington D.C., where advocates hope a federal judge will intervene by hitting pause before the designation expires on Tuesday.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives are in the balance right now,” Namphy said.
Namphy: because hundreds of thousands of lives are in the balance right now
Chung said the ruling will have a massive reach. “Depending on how the court rules, obviously this is going to affect 113,000 (people) in Florida and 315,000 in the United States,” she said. “All the news that we have is a decision could be released sometime (Monday or Tuesday), so hopefully it is soon so that the Haitian community can be stabilized in some way.”
If a judge grants a stay, Chung says Immigration and Customs Enforcement must honor that decision and halt enforcement actions.
However, if the designation ends at midnight Tuesday, fear and panic are expected to rise.
“I think there will be significant arrests in the community,” Chung said. “We have heard that ICE is ready, prepared.”
Chung added that the Haitian community has heard that “ICE has positioned themselves to arrest people in the community as soon as there is an expiration.”
For those currently in the process of resolving their residency through other means, such as an immediate relative petition, Chung said they should be permitted to complete that process and should not be considered an enforcement priority.
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