Now, the harsh consequences of this new reality are hitting many Haitians, some of whom have lived in the US for more than 15 years. (TPS was first designated for Haiti in 2010 after the devastating earthquake.) They find themselves losing jobs, struggling to pay rent, and scrambling to find legal avenues to stay in the country.
Perhaps most significantly, thousands are now living in fear of being arrested, detained, and eventually deported by ICE. In Massachusetts, there are approximately 45,000 TPS holders, of which Haitians are the largest group. A significant portion of TPS holders in Massachusetts work in the health care sector as nurses, home health aides, and in other critical positions.
“People who were lawfully in the United States, who could live, work, and study legally in our country, are suddenly now undocumented,” Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston, told me in a phone call. The organization has run more than a dozen legal clinics in recent weeks for TPS holders from Haiti and other countries.
“This has resulted essentially in a manufactured crisis, where many people who are contributing and productive members of our communities and economy will now have to be pushed out of their positions in key sectors,” Espinoza-Madrigal said. “There are concerns that immigration enforcement will start targeting TPS recipients more aggressively.”
Trump administration officials have not minced words about their next steps in targeting former TPS holders
“We’re going after them right now,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said this week in an interview with News Nation, about Haitians who lost their status. “These individuals can either self-deport or we will arrest you and send you back. It’s that simple.”
Enforcement targeting TPS holders has already begun in some places. In Springfield, Ohio — home to about 12,000 Haitian TPS holders — ICE has begun calling immigrants with TPS into a nearby agency office and placing ankle bracelets on dozens of people, Guerline Jozef, cofounder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, said on a call this week with journalists and politicians. Some of those who missed their newly scheduled appointments, Jozef said, were detained.
ICE has been adjusting its tactics, Jozef said, carrying out immigration enforcement in more private spaces — in this case, at ICE field offices.
“So instead of them heavily descending on communities, they are using tactics to bring the people into their offices — to either detain them, or fit them with an ankle monitor, and telling them that if they don’t self-deport, they will be called back to report within a month,” Jozef told me.
In Massachusetts, Espinoza-Madrigal and his colleagues have been fielding constant questions from TPS recipients at legal clinics about what pathways they may have to remain in the country lawfully. But with the Trump administration restricting so many forms of even legal immigration to the US, an optimistic future can be hard to picture.
“The reality is that the options are extremely limited,” Espinoza-Madrigal said.
In my own conversations with TPS holders in recent months, families have told me that going back to Haiti largely isn’t an option, because of the severe violence that has engulfed much of the country. Indeed, it’s so bad the US State Department warns US citizens not to go there.
Some Haitians told me they would stay here, hoping that the worst case scenario wouldn’t play out. And one especially distressing concern comes up, again and again.
If they get arrested, many ask, what will happen to their children?
So at Lawyers for Civil Rights, some of the legal assistance they’ve had to provide focuses on family preparedness and guardianship applications, so that in the event that a parent or a legal guardian gets detained by ICE, a responsible adult can be assigned to take care of their children.
“These are extraordinarily challenging conversations to have with a parent who is suddenly facing the prospect of being deported to Haiti,” Espinoza-Madrigal said.
I am fearful that hard-working, tax-paying family members will be separated from loved ones, injured or worse. We are all immigrants to this country. This is not about immigration, it’s about “whiteness.”
You can find our list of resources in multiple languages here.
Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio can be reached at giulia.mcdnr@globe.com. Follow her @giuliamcdnr.
