MIAMI – Donald Trump has voiced his desire to get rid of the Temporary Protected Status for Haitians so many times that migrants and advocates are worried that he may get reelected this November.
Many were outraged when the former president mentioned an unfounded conspiracy theory about Haitian migrants eating pet cats during the Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
They were hurting again after the Republican presidential candidate brought up the lies again about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, on Wednesday during an interview on NewsNation.
“You have to remove the people, and you have to bring them back to their own country,” Trump said adding that he wants to “revoke” the federal TPS program that is allowing some migrants to get a work permit and avoid deportation.
Paul Christian Namphy, of the Family Action Network Movement, a Miami-based social services organization, is among the advocates for refugees who have said the position lacks compassion since Haitians are fleeing an escalating humanitarian crisis fueled by political chaos.
“Unfortunately, racism and dehumanization has raised its ugly head once again,” Namphy said.
In 2018, during a private meeting with lawmakers to discuss immigration from Haiti and other impoverished countries in the Oval Office, Trump allegedly said, “Why are we having all these people from [expletive] hole countries come here?”
During the interview Wednesday, Trump also asserted that the Haitian authorities were going to welcome the return of the migrants. Officials in the troubled country have been dealing with a political and security crisis, while residents face food and fuel shortages.
“They’re going to receive them, they’ll receive them,” Trump told NewsNation.
During Trump’s administration, the 2011 TPS designation was set to end in 2019, but he challenged it in court unsuccessfully. The Biden administration extended the TPS in June. Haitian Americans like Namphy argued the extremists who support Trump forget the U.S. is a country of immigrants.
“We see this as a way of them trying to delineate who is a legacy American, and who isn’t,” Namphy said.
The November election is definitive for many immigrants who call South Florida home.
“This country can either go in the direction of open hearts and minds, or it can go in the direction of closed minds and closed doors,” Namphy said. “I think the people of the United States have a very clear choice that they are making, and our Haitian community members with voting rights will be part of that choice.”
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