A group of local Haitian immigrants took a bus to Washington this week to hear a case that could decide their fate. The Supreme Court took on a challenge over the decision by the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for them. Delmarva Public Media Kevin Diaz was there as they boarded the bus for their journey.
Kevin Diaz:
It's first light, 6:00 AM. We're in a church parking lot in Salisbury. A bus for DC is waiting to leave. A group of Haitian community leaders is packing water and lunches for a trip to the Supreme Court, where twelve justices will be hearing arguments deciding whether or not members of their community can leave or stay.
Rev. Roosevelt Toussaint:
It's a very important day....
Kevin Diaz:
That's the Reverend Roosevelt Toussaint of the Word of Life Church.
Toussaint:
People are fearful. I mean, some of them are very fearful. They don't know what's going to happen. They don't know whether they're going to be arrested or get deported.
Kevin Diaz:
Also riding the bus is Samson Orneus, a businessman and leader in the local Haitian community, which provides a workforce for the Eastern Shore's poultry, agriculture, and service industries.
Samson Orneus:
People are very nervous. It's been a year since the administration took office. So we've been fighting.
Kevin Diaz:
But beyond fighting, or advocating, there's also been a lot of praying. As the bus revs up, Reverend Toussaint makes his appeal to a higher authority than the Supreme Court.
Toussaint:
Look up to God because God has the answer.
Kevin Diaz:
In Washington, the Haitians from Maryland and Delaware joined other groups Wednesday from as far away as Georgia and Florida. Human rights leaders, union activists, and politicians like Maryland US Senator Chris Van Hollen also joined the rally on the steps of the Supreme Court. Kenson Raymond, an immigration counselor from Salisbury, explained why.
Kenson Raymond:
We just want to be there, be present to show our support.
Kevin Diaz:
The issue before the Court is a humanitarian program known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. The justices will determine whether the Trump administration can strip TPS protections from hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, as well as from Syria. The court has already cleared the way for the end of TPS protection for people from Venezuela, but each country is different. Leaders in the Haitian community argue that many of their citizens have been living and working legally in the United States for years, and that particularly in Haiti, the near total lack of a functioning government has left the population at the mercy of warring gangs.
Standing before the court, the government lawyer, solicitor General John Sauer, argued that the administration's ruling is a foreign policy concerned in which the courts shouldn't interfere.
John Sauer:
Perhaps most importantly, the kind of determination that is at issue here is just the sort of determination that lies kind of at the heartland of what has been traditionally entrusted to the political branches.
Kevin Diaz:
Immigrant lawyers concede that the president has wide discretion on foreign policy and national security matters, but they charge that the administration ignored a mandatory review process and was instead motivated by race.
Geoffrey Pipoly:
The true reason for the termination is the president's racial animus towards non-white immigrants and his dislike of Haitians. In particular, the president has disparaged Haitian TPS holders specifically as undesirables from a shithole country, and days after falsely accusing them of eating the dogs and eating the cats of Americans.
Kevin Diaz:
That's Geoffrey Pipoly, an attorney for the immigrants. As things stand, the program is scheduled to end in July.
For Reverend Toussaint. It's a matter of just keeping the faith.
Toussaint:
The same God who brought them over here, the same God will protect them. That's my belief.
Kevin Diaz:
For Delmarva Public Media. This is Kevin Diaz.
