FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – South Florida’s Haitian community is coming together to announce the placement of several billboards along Interstate 95.
They are making their voices heard in response to false rhetoric aimed at their community by some GOP leaders.
Marie Laplante is with the Haitian-American Democratic Club and said whether you’re driving through Palm Beach, Broward, or Miami-Dade counties, it’ll be hard to miss their new billboards.
“This election is extremely important,” she said. “We are not only placing those billboards for Haitians; we are placing those billboards for anyone who is unsure of who they want to cast their vote for”
Laplante said the wheels were already in motion, but the catalyst was comments by Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance about Haitian people in Springfield, Ohio, and then the candidates doubling down on those comments.
“It’s so contrary to what we are accused of,” said Laplante. “We are part of the fabric of this country, we are here to support this country.”
While president, Trump referred to Haiti as a “sh-t hole country.”
Earlier this month, Trump said he’d get rid of temporary protected status, or TPS, for Haitian migrants and deport them if he’s elected.
Around the same time, the Biden administration announced it would allow a humanitarian parole program to lapse for Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians. The program gave migrants from those countries temporary legal permission to stay in the country.
There are more than half a million Haitians in the state of Florida, which is more than anywhere else in the country.
More than 300,000 are registered voters, and in what’s believed to be a razor-thin race, every one of their votes will be crucial.