The deadline of work permits for Haitians with Temporary Protected Status was pushed until July 24, and are now in “legal limbo,” said Yola Lamarre, external relations coordinator with the Haitian Community Network, on Thursday during an appearance on WOSU's All Sides with Amy Juravich.
The United States Supreme Court ruled last month that the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of more than 300,000 Haitians in the United States. The Haitian Community Network in Columbus estimates there are about 30,000 Haitians in Columbus with about 18,000 of them here on TPS.
“We don't even know what the future will look like. If there ever will be a redesignation and extension or any type of relief,” said Lamarre. “You wake up every day, and you hear that you're at risk and then it's like, 'oh no, there's a last-minute relief' and it's just a lot of uncertainty.”
Lamarre explained the loss of the Haitian community's TPS seriously impacts the local economy. She said, in Columbus alone, the community contributes more than $5 million in taxes and work as factory employees, healthcare workers and even in their own businesses.
Those with TPS will lose work authorization and protection from deportation on July 25, said Emily Brown, assistant clinical professor of law and director of the Immigration Clinic at Ohio State University. She said many are seeking avenues like asylum status to stay in the country.
“Some folks who came here from Haiti, obviously they were fleeing violence, instability, you know, various types of persecution that they may have been experiencing in Haiti,” Brown said on All Sides. “Many of them applied for TPS, but also have applied for asylum, meaning they believe that they would be individually persecuted if they were forced to go back to Haiti.”
Brown said typically those with pending asylum cases have been safe to stay in the country, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainment policies have forced asylum seekers into removal proceedings.
“Most Haitians are not going to voluntarily get on a plane and head back to Haiti because the situation there is so dangerous. And therefore, that's why the only way they're going to be able to make it happen most likely is going to be large-scale raids, violations of constitutional rights and racial profiling,” Brown said.
Today, Haiti still faces organized crime, famine, armed conflict and natural disasters, Lamarre said, which makes living in the United States a necessity.
“The mass deportation agenda is just not an effective way to enforce immigration operations in our country because we're essentially flying people back to death,” Lamarre said in a separate interview.
