Overview:
Springfield, Ohio-based advocate Vilès Dorsainvil is calling on Haiti’s government to sue the United States for treating Haitian immigrants “like criminals.” Some in Haiti say the inaction is to be expected.
As some Haitian immigrants reporting to federal immigration offices leave with electronic ankle monitors, a leading community advocate is calling on Haiti’s government to sue the United States over what he describes as a humiliating treatment.
“The Haitian government should sue them because it’s the same American government that allowed these folks to come here, just to treat them as if they were criminals,” Vilès Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center, said.
Dorsainvil’s remarks, made in an exclusive Haitian Times interview last Sunday, echo calls other advocates have shared about the immigration policies upending lives in the U.S. and Haiti. Some advocates there suggest the Haitian government ask the U.S. for a delay in deportations until after Haiti holds elections or work out other alternatives.
“The request may not be approved, but not saying anything is bad and careless leadership,” said Jules Romulus, executive director of Vision Haïtienne des droits de l’Homme (VHDH).
To date, no Haitian government official has publicly addressed U.S. treatment of Haitian immigrants nor how it might provide for former TPS holders deported. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have replied to The Haitian Times’ messages seeking comments about the advocates’ proposed calls for action.
TPS ending triggers calls for Haiti to act
Dorsainvil called for the lawsuit after spending the day in an ICE facility, where 10 Haitians his group accompanied were fitted with electronic ankle monitors. He described the process as humiliating and questioned why individuals who entered through legal means should now be subjected to monitoring usually imposed on criminals.
He said Haitian officials have remained too silent while Haitians face increasingly restrictive immigration measures, when it should instead be pressing U.S. officials for answers.
“I don’t know why you are getting a salary, you are in a position of managing the country, but you still remain silent in everything,” he said of Haiti’s current government.
“Even what is happening to Haitian nationals in the Dominican Republic,” he said. “At the end of the day, Haitians are human beings as much as everybody else.”
Other countries advocate for their immigrants, some have pointed out. Recently, Mexico said it would sue the U.S. over the deaths of Mexicans who died in ICE detention.
In Haiti, organizations such as VHDH, Popular Democratic Movement (MODEP), and Zansèt Ayiti, similarly have urged the Haitian government to diplomatically negotiate the suspension of deportations with the U.S. They said Haiti’s security and humanitarian conditions do not allow for safe, dignified returns.
Pierre Télémaque, a textile workers’ union leader, insists the Haitian government can make the Trump administration backtrack if it has the will.
“If Haiti’s leaders really wanted to, they could persuade the U.S. government to reverse its decision to revoke TPS protections,” Télémaque told The Haitian Times on Monday. “But they won’t stand up to the U.S. government because they are not true leaders. Haitian authorities have no spine.”
Lucnas Etienne, president of Zansèt Ayiti, said during a July 14 press conference about deportation flights from the U.S. that Haiti must say
“Even if they are incompetent, they are the ones in power, so we are asking them to launch a diplomatic offensive to avoid the catastrophe that is looming,” Etienne said.
Jules Romulus, executive director of VHDH, said the transitional government led by Fils-Aimé should have explained to U.S. authorities that ending TPS for Haitians is poorly timed and asked for alternatives. He suggested the government ask for a moratorium until at least after Haiti’s elections are completed, “when the country has a permanent government and the security environment has effectively improved.”
Haiti remains mum on deportation, claims security improved
The Haitian government has not addressed the suggested courses of action. It faces the work of reintegrating anyone deported into the society, have said the current government is giving the same silent treatment exhibited over gangs controlling much of the country’s capital.
To date, only a staff member at the Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad (MHAVE) have responded, stating that TPS and immigration policy fall outside their ministry’s responsibilities.
Last year, MHAVE Minister Kathia Verdier said the government was working to receive vulnerable Haitians facing deportation while acknowledging Haiti had little influence over U.S. immigration policy. Still, advocates continued to criticize the authorities for not outlining assistance programs for housing, employment or other reintegration initiatives.
Speaking to local reporters at Cap-Haïtien International Airport after receiving 111 deportees in July, Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, director general of Haiti’s National Office of Migration (ONM), said the government must do what it can to receive Haitians humanely.
“ONM and the Haitian state have no other choice,” he said. “We must welcome migrants returning from different countries and backgrounds with dignity.”
But Jean-Chenet Ulysse, president of the sociopolitical movement Point Final, does not believe Haitian institutions will do anything to assist deportees.
“We have more than 1.5 million people displaced by gang violence, living in abject conditions in camps,” he said. “The government has done nothing for them. How can we believe the same authorities will do anything for those victims of forced deportations from the United States?”
Ulysse partly blames the Fils-Aimé administration for amplifying the pretext that U.S. authorities used to end the TPS program for Haitians, citing a July 20 speech by Minister of Foreign Affairs Raina Forbin at a United Nations Security Council briefing as an example of government malpractice. In her remarks, Forbin said the country’s security situation has improved considerably, contradicting the international community’s account.
“We are closer than we’ve been in years to restoring security and holding elections that are free,” she said at the time.
