South Florida Demands: “Stop Deportations of Haitians Now!”
POMPANO BEACH – On Saturday, February 28th at 3:00 p.m. hundreds of Florida residents, including members of Haitian Women of Miami (FAMN), Haitian Citizen United Taskforce (HCUT), the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), Unite for Dignity and the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), among many other concerned community members, will gather at the Broward Transitional Center (3900 N. Powerline Rd., Pompano Beach) to acknowledge the contribution the Haitian community continues to make to our state and demand an end to the deportation of our Haitian sisters and brothers.
Haitian deportees face hunger, homelessness and unemployment, if not worse, in the wake of four killer storms that further devastated our hemisphere’s poorest nation. Conditions in Haiti remain abysmal. The storms destroyed 15 percent of its GDP–the equivalent of 8 to 10 Hurricane Katrinas hitting the U.S. in one month. Further, the State Department renewed warnings not to travel to Haiti due to the “destructive impact” of the storms.
The former administration stayed deportations to Haiti in September only to resume them abruptly in December after temporary protected status was denied. This was a last-minute Department of Homeland Security policy reversal. Haitian nationals in Florida live under the constant fear of deportation. Stopping deportations and releasing detainees would restore America’s commitment to the rule of law and the principle of equal protection by granting Haitians the same deserved protection granted other similarly-situated nationals.
“People in the Haitian community could be deported at any time and are even afraid to go to their churches. We should not live in fear, but need to speak out for justice. Stopping the deportations is the first step,” said Bob Louis-Jeune of the Haitian Citizen United Taskforce (HCUT) and Palm Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition (PBIRC).
“We understand that President Obama’s focus is on the economy, but Haitians have been suffering for so long. At a strike of a pen, he can end their misery! It makes strong economic and humanitarian sense for him to do so. It is time to right this wrong” said Marleine Bastien, Founder and Executive Director of FANM/Haitian Women of Miami.
