Immigration activists hold emergency town hall as DHS prepares to end TPS for Haitians living in U.S.
A group of activists in North Miami gathered to discuss resources and strategies for South Florida's Haitian community, just days after the Department of Homeland Security announced that Temporary Protection Status (TPS) would end for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States.
Members of the community are on edge after the decision was made.
Passionate testimony of Haitian leaders in South Florida echoed through The Katz restaurant and bar in North Miami on Sunday evening. The meeting discussed the Trump administration's decision to terminate TPS for about 500,000 Haitians in the U.S., effective in September.
"I don't think 10 weeks is necessarily a sufficient amount of time for someone to disconnect themselves if they've been in this country for 15 years," said Sandra Cherfrere, an immigration attorney and advocate.
South Florida Haitians expressed how they felt when they heard the news.
"I was in tears because I felt so betrayed that they were telling the American people that Haiti is 'okay' when as an American citizen who is of Haitian descent, I know that is not safe," said Naomi Esther Blemur, executive director, balancing life and advocate. "That right now in Port-au-Prince, there are no flights, and it's been months since there have been no flights in Port-au-Prince."
According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, about 2,700 Haitians have been murdered within the first six months of 2025.
About 300,000 Haitians live in the Miami area.
"Take your child from all the comforts in America and go back and live in Haiti with me, where we may or may not have a place that has inside plumbing, for example," Cherfrere said.
Sunday's public meeting was to give legal advice and options to Haitians living in the Miami area, but many advocates fear those on TPS may have less time than they think.
"The administration may not wait until Sept. 2 to start picking up people whose TPS is going to expire because, as of right now, I know for a fact that there are individuals [who] have provided TPS applications who are in detention, right? So, I know those families are probably scrambling, trying to get things together," Cherfrere said. "I know people who are already trying to make arrangements to go to Canada or somewhere else."
The Trump administration has also ended protections for immigrants from countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
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