Community Leaders React to End of Haitian TPS
SALISBURY, Md. – Community leaders are reacting after a federal district judge upheld the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to revoke the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of Haitians and Syrians nationwide on Aug. 5.
The Supreme Court first paved the way for the end of Haiti’s TPS in their decision issued on Jun. 25, but a stay that had been in place in is no longer in effect, effectively revoking work permits for thousands of immigrants. On Thursday, community leaders in Salisbury gathered in front of the Government Office Building to sound the alarm about how this decision will immediately impact the local Haitian community.
“They are hard working individuals… they’ve been here, that’s the only country that they know. They’ve been here for 20 some years,” said Reverend Roosevelt Toussaint, the head pastor at Word of Life Center in Salisbury. “There is families over here, there are businesses over here. And all of a sudden they cannot live here.”
Reverend Toussaint, joined by Natalie Saint-Phard, a Haitian-American and Chair of the Salisbury Human Rights Advisory Committee, called on Perdue, Mountaire Farms, and other corporations with large populations of immigrant workers to advocate for their Haitian employees during this time of uncertainty.
“And our people, the immigrants… they have contributed to our economy. I do ask them now, all the business owners in this area, they have contributed a great deal to our economy,” Reverend Toussaint continued. “So at this point, my only hope, I’m a person of faith. I’m looking up to God, that God will intervene.”
In addition to calling on local employers, leaders called on law enforcement agencies to begin enforcing the recently passed Community Trust Act, which prohibits local correctional facilities from taking certain actions related to immigration enforcement. Saint-Phard says this step is paramount, as she’s aware of at least two instances within the last week in Wicomico County where immigration authorities conducted traffic stops, taking individuals into custody.
“I think [elected leaders] have a duty to communicate with the community, not to placate, not to act like it’s not happening. It’s happening,” Saint-Phard said in an interview with WMDT. “And I spoke about it in a council meeting just in there about what would you do? How would you feel if this happened in our own backyards?”
