Latest news with #HaitianImmigrants
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US sets deadline to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants
The United States government has announced it will terminate special protections for Haitian immigrants. In a statement issued Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that, starting on September 2, Haitians would no longer be able to remain in the country under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation. TPS allows nationals from countries facing conflict, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances to temporarily remain in the US. It also gives them the right to work and travel. The designation is typically made for periods of six, 12 or 18 months, but that can be extended by the DHS secretary. But under the administration of President Donald Trump, temporary protections like TPS have been pared back, as part of a broader push to limit immigration to the US. 'This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,' a DHS spokesperson said in Friday's statement. Haiti first received the TPS designation in 2010, when a devastating earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless – more than a 10th of the population. The designation has been routinely extended and expanded, particularly as gang violence and political instability worsened in recent years. Since his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, President Trump has sought to strip TPS for Haitians, even as conditions have deteriorated in the Caribbean island nation. Today, Haiti faces a protracted humanitarian crisis, with more than 5,600 people killed by gangs last year and 1.3 million displaced. Armed groups now control up to 90 percent of the capital, and food, water and medical services are extremely difficult to come by. The US Department of State has placed a travel advisory on Haiti, listing it as a Level 4 country, the highest warning level. Level 4 signifies 'do not travel', as there are life-threatening conditions in the designated area. The State Department advises Americans to avoid Haiti 'due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care'. The DHS statement, however, notes that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem 'determined that, overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety'. 'She further determined that permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States,' the statement adds. An estimated 260,000 Haitians have TPS. The statement advises that those affected can either pursue another immigration status or return home. But Haitians are not the only group to face the revocation of their temporary immigration status. In early May, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US. Later in the month, the high court also ruled that Trump can revoke the two-year 'humanitarian parole' that allowed 530,000 people to legally remain and work in the US. The affected humanitarian parole recipients included Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, all of whom face instability and political repression in their home countries. Trump officials have also moved to end TPS for 7,600 Cameroonians and 14,600 Afghans. But critics note that fighting continues to rage in Cameroon, and in Afghanistan, the Taliban government is accused of perpetrating widespread human rights abuses.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
U.S. to end TPS for Haitians on Sept. 2; Florida to feel brunt of Trump crackdown
Florida will feel the brunt of the June 27 Trump administration order to revoke Temporary Protected Status for half a million Haitians living in the United States as of Sept. 2, leaving them undocumented and at risk of deportation. Over 128,000 Haitians with TPS live in Florida and have jobs in health care, hospitality, agriculture and construction, industries already facing steep labor shortages. The Department of Homeland Security announced on June 27 that the current TPS designation for Haiti set to end on Aug. 3 will officially be terminated on Tuesday, Sept. 2. DHS argued conditions in Haiti had improved and no longer met the conditions to grant Temporary Protected Status, which allows people from specific countries to live and work in the United States and avoid deportation. Long troubled by poverty, political corruption and violence, Haiti is going though one of its worst moments of unrest, with gangs controlling many of the areas in the capital Port Au Prince. Most Haitians in the United States say they don't have a safe place to return to if they have to go back to the Caribbean nation, which is 750 miles from Miami. 'They are hopeless': Haitian immigrants face deportation to violence, poverty they fled Temporary Protected Status is a humanitarian designation given to people from specific countries that are suffering from armed conflict, a natural disaster or other "extraordinary and temporary" conditions that make returning home unsafe. President Barack Obama extended it to thousands of Haitians in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. It allows people covered by it to live and work in the United States, but they are not considered permanent residents, nor do they have a pathway either to permanent residency or citizenship. In order to obtain TPS, immigrants must pass a full background check and they may not have any previous felony convictions or two or more misdemeanors. Having Temporary Protected Status allows people to get a driver's license and receive a Social Security number, a requirement to work legally in the United States, and to file taxes, but they do not have access to any federal public benefits, including Social Security benefits. The designation prevents people from being deported to their native countries. About one-third of all 1.1 million TPS holders live in Florida, of which 59% are Venezuelan and 35% are Haitians, according to a 2024 report by the federal government. Many Haitian TPS holders have lived in the Sunshine State for over a decade. They have jobs as nurses in hospitals and in senior living facilities; as cooks servers and cleaning staff in restaurants in hotels; as farm workers in the fields; and as day laborer in construction sites. Many of them are now parents to U.S.-born children. Some are homeowners and others run small businesses. According to the DHS order, all 500,000 Haitians with TPS living in the United States would loose their legal status and their ability to work. Without TPS, they can also be deported to Haiti. The decision is the latest blow from the Trump administration to Haitians living in the United States. On May 30, DHS moved to end a humanitarian parole program for half a million immigrants including 210,000 Haitians. Parole is granted to people dealing with persecution or family or medical emergencies. They need a sponsor in the United States who can support them financially. This month, Trump announced a travel ban to and from Haiti, along with several other nations. Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@ and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: U.S. to end TPS for Haitians on Sept. 2; More than 128,000 affected
Al Jazeera
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
US sets deadline to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants
The United States government has announced it will terminate special protections for Haitian immigrants. In a statement issued Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that, starting on September 2, Haitians would no longer be able to remain in the country under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation. TPS allows nationals from countries facing conflict, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances to temporarily remain in the US. It also gives them the right to work and travel. The designation is typically made for periods of six, 12 or 18 months, but that can be extended by the DHS secretary. But under the administration of President Donald Trump, temporary protections like TPS have been pared back, as part of a broader push to limit immigration to the US. 'This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,' a DHS spokesperson said in Friday's statement. Haiti first received the TPS designation in 2010, when a devastating earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless – more than a 10th of the population. The designation has been routinely extended and expanded, particularly as gang violence and political instability worsened in recent years. Since his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, President Trump has sought to strip TPS for Haitians, even as conditions have deteriorated in the Caribbean island nation. Today, Haiti faces a protracted humanitarian crisis, with more than 5,600 people killed by gangs last year and 1.3 million displaced. Armed groups now control up to 90 percent of the capital, and food, water and medical services are extremely difficult to come by. The US Department of State has placed a travel advisory on Haiti, listing it as a Level 4 country, the highest warning level. Level 4 signifies 'do not travel', as there are life-threatening conditions in the designated area. The State Department advises Americans to avoid Haiti 'due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care'. The DHS statement, however, notes that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem 'determined that, overall, country conditions have improved to the point where Haitians can return home in safety'. 'She further determined that permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the national interest of the United States,' the statement adds. An estimated 260,000 Haitians have TPS. The statement advises that those affected can either pursue another immigration status or return home. But Haitians are not the only group to face the revocation of their temporary immigration status. In early May, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to revoke TPS for 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US. Later in the month, the high court also ruled that Trump can revoke the two-year 'humanitarian parole' that allowed 530,000 people to legally remain and work in the US. The affected humanitarian parole recipients included Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, all of whom face instability and political repression in their home countries. Trump officials have also moved to end TPS for 7,600 Cameroonians and 14,600 Afghans. But critics note that fighting continues to rage in Cameroon, and in Afghanistan, the Taliban government is accused of perpetrating widespread human rights abuses.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
"Soulless, mindless entities": Trump shares QAnon conspiracy theory suggesting Biden is a clone
Posting to Truth Social late Saturday night, Donald Trump boosted a claim that former President Joe Biden was a clone. "There is no #JoeBiden - executed in 2020," the reshared post reads. "#Biden clones, doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. #Democrats don't know the difference." The claim that body doubles or clones have replaced some celebrities for nebulous and nefarious reasons holds some purchase among members of the far-right. And to give some credit to Trump, it's entirely possible that he skimmed the text and thought it aligned with his frequent claims that Biden was puppeteered throughout his second term. The president has been amplifying right-wing internet conspiracies for years. He gave subtle nods to QAnon, the online cult that believes Trump will usher in a great "storm" that will cleanse sex traffickers and child abusers from positions of power in the United States, while campaigning for a second term. His campaign elevated unfounded beliefs about gang and cartel activity in the country and raised the profile of an entirely fabricated claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating local pets. In the latter case, Trump's insistence that recently resettled Haitian immigrants were "eating the cats" and "eating the dogs" led to bomb threats in the city of Springfield. Still, delving into talks of cloning grown humans — something that is not scientifically possible in the present — is a big step into the murk of the GOP's tin-foil fringe.
Bloomberg
01-06-2025
- General
- Bloomberg
Immigrants Rebuilt a Pennsylvania Town — Then Became Targets
Larry Celaschi summons me to look at his cell phone, which displays a photo of a truck. The picture, which someone shared with Celaschi, features the awkward angle and hazy resolution of amateur surveillance. It depicts Black people loading a U-Haul with household belongings. We are standing on the sidewalk near the McDonald's on McKean Avenue in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, a small town on the Monongahela River, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. Charleroi, with a population around 4,200, is the sort of insular place that might once have seemed far removed from national politics. But one consequence of the Donald Trump era is that the president's animus bears down on distant corners of the earth in a political butterfly effect: Trump billows in Tucson, Arizona in September. Eight months later, Haitian immigrants load a U-Haul in the Monongahela Valley.
