Trump blasted over decision to repatriate 59,000 Haitians
WEST PALM BEACH — President Donald Trump faced a backlash yesterday over his tough immigration policies after announcing that 59,000 Haitians who took refuge in the United States following the 2010 earthquake must return home.
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle blasted the decision to repatriate the Haitians within 18 months, removing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) they received after the disaster, which killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed much of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince.
Hundreds of protesters rallied near Trump's Mar-aLago retreat in West Palm Beach, Florida — where the president was spending the Thanksgiving holiday — to voice their discontent over the move.
"We are fighting and we are going to continue to fight for permanent residency," said 38-year-old Myrtha Abraham, a Haitian hotel worker with TPS — and a seven-year-old daughter who is an American citizen.
"We have family, we have children, we have houses, we have jobs here."
For Wendi Walsh of Unite Here, a labor group helping organize the demonstration in Florida, "the announcement to end TPS is mean-spirited two days before Thanksgiving."
Haitians and their supporters also demonstrated in New York, warning that the decision would lead to breaking up families. Thousands of children have been born in the United States to people under TPS protections.
In Port-au-Prince, officials said they were grateful for the 18-month grace period, but residents voiced concern about the long-term repercussions.
"We knew this program was only temporary," said Haiti's ambassador to the US, Paul Altidor.
The US decision announced late Monday by the Department of Homeland Security was expected. But critics said impoverished Haiti is not prepared for an influx of returnees.
"Haiti is not ready," said MarleineBastien, Director of Haitian Women of Miami.
"It still has people displaced from the earthquake and from Hurricane Matthew. Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused even more damage, the cholera epidemic left 1.2 million people contaminated, there is no access to clean water infrastructure yet," she told AFP.