A Fed Up Haitian Diaspora Calls On Biden Once More

Miami FL

24 March, 2022

12:55 PM

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By Johania Charles, Miami Times Staff Writer, the Miami Times Mar 22, 2022 Following a Monday visit to the Broward Transitional Center, a for-profit detention center located in Pompano Beach, Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is once again pleading with the Biden administration to give Haitian migrants a chance to seek refuge in the U.S. Flanked by faith leaders, allies and members of the National Haitian Elected Officials Network (NHAEON), to which she herself belongs, Cherfilus-McCormick requested three things from the administration at a press conference that afternoon. She is calling on President Joe Biden to invite families to apply to the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (HFRP) established in 2014, enforce provisions in the Immigration Naturalization Act (INA) to offer humanitarian parole to Haitian nationals at the U.S.-Mexico border, and a repeal of Title 42. Hundreds of migrants who traveled to the U.S. without a visa earlier this month are being held at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach. (Wikimedia Commons) "We see the terror that's going on in Haiti is a terror that's similar to what we see in other areas and that other countries are being granted asylum, but yet the Haitian community is still being denied asylum under these circumstances," said Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian American elected to Congress. The congresswoman, whose parents fled the François "Papa Doc" Duvalier regime in Haiti, said she felt an obligation to be the first member of Congress to visit Broward Transitional Center, talk to migrants and see what could be done to address their needs. "We wanted to make sure that every immigrant was getting due process and [had] the ability to really articulate their case," she told the media. "One of the biggest things we heard about was the confusion when it came to the immigration process. Many of the Haitians were sent back … Many of the other immigrants were there waiting to be deported back to their country, and they willingly wanted to be deported." The migration population currently at the center consists of Haitians, Ukrainians, Russians and Dominicans according to Cherfilus-McCormick, who met with approximately 150 migrants. "No one wants to be deported," said Vanessa Joseph, a Catholic Legal Services supervising attorney. "I'm sure what they're seeing really is [that] the conditions that they've suffered here in this land of freedom are so bad that they'd rather go home to a certain death. These are 150 families, 150 stories of suffering, and to ignore even one of these stories is irresponsible." Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and her team traveled to the Broward Transitional Center on Monday in her mobile office. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) Cherfilus-McCormick and her team say the migrants complained of finding roaches and worms in their meals and likened the horrible living conditions to what prisoners experience, saying they were saddened to see people brought down to such a degrading state for simply trying to escape the turmoil back home. "As of [Monday], more than 210 flights full of Haitians who have been deprived of due process have been sent to Haiti," she said, explaining that some exceptions had been made to Title 42 for Afghans last year and now for Ukrainians. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that Afghans currently residing in the U.S. are eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, offering approximately 76,000 Afghans protection from deportation. Haitian leaders acknowledged the dire circumstances in Afghanistan and Ukraine and said they are happy the U.S. has opened its doors to its people, but fear that they are witnessing a pattern of discriminatory practices towards Black migrants when Title 42 is argued for Haitian migrant expulsion. "For the Biden administration to act as if all of the conditions for which TPS was granted do not continue to exist is actually criminal," said Joseph. "It's to pretend that we are blind and do not see the ongoing civil unrest in Haiti, the torture that people are facing." Cherfilus-McCormick made note of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy created by President Bill Clinton in 1995 that afforded migrants fleeing Cuba without a visa a chance at residency, an immigration policy that was not extended to Haitian, Mexican or Central American migrants also fleeing to the U.S. around the same time. Vanessa Joseph, supervising attorney for Catholic Legal Services, along with a network of Haitian American officials, urges President Joe Biden to act on a duty to allow asylum seekers a chance to plead their case. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) "We should remember that no one opts to leave their country for no good reason," Gepsie Metellus, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center executive director, told The Miami Times. "No one takes this most dangerous trip, whether through the Mona Passage or Windward Passage, no one makes this kind of trip on a whim. People are running for their lives so it's important to remind the American people of that reality, and urge them to stand with us as we request of the Biden administration that it utilizes all of the tools at its disposal to regulate the situation." The tools Metellus refers to are the same ones being requested by the Haitian diaspora and allies – humanitarian parole and HFRP. HFRP allows eligible U.S. citizens and permanent residents to apply for parole for family members from Haiti, allowing said family members entry into the U.S. temporarily. In 2019, HFRP was terminated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) but then reinstated last September on an invitation-only basis. "There are enough Haitians and Haitian Americans who have legal status in this country who could potentially petition for a family member who has made this fearful trip to the U.S.," said Metellus. "In the meantime, we are receiving those people that are let in, but so far with the arrival of the recent boats [in the Florida Keys], we have not come across anyone who was released." Usually, migrants that are allowed to stay, Metellus said, search for legal assistance, mental health support, housing support and ways to meet basic needs. That is where Sant La comes in. "Historically, we have stepped up whenever a situation like this has been afoot," said Metellus of the center and the Haitian diaspora as a whole. "We step up, we translate, we interpret and provide guidance and 'know your rights' presentations." Gepsie Metellus (NAAHPUSA.org) "Before we got there as a team to provide these know your rights presentations that we refer to as Legal Orientation Program (LOP), there were no mechanisms for translation for these individuals," said Joseph. "So it wasn't until I got there that Haitians got some form of reprieve because they were able to now understand their rights, and still today they continue to suffer." The leaders beg the administration to not let their pleas fall on deaf ears, again. "What we're seeing now is injustice and lack of due process, illegal approach, (and) illegal use of power to repress immigrants who are seeking refuge in this country," said Tessa Petit, co-executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. "We are not asking the current administration to bend the law. We're not asking them to do anything illegal …" "I'm just so tired of addressing you with different Congresspersons asking and addressing this administration. We are extremely disappointed," Marie Estime-Irvin, District 3 North Miami councilwoman and NHAEON vice chair, told reporters. "I'm reminded of how in October 2020, [President Biden] came to Little Haiti and he got on his knees and he said he would be supportive of especially the Haitian community, and he has not delivered." The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.