Haitian bishop concerned over end of US protected status for immigrants

“What do you mean we are criminals?” Emma has been asking herself this question ever since the United States administration terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants.

TPS is a measure intended to welcome and protect people from countries where wars, natural disasters, and difficult humanitarian situations prevent them from being safely returned. As long as these crises persist, immigrants can legally remain in the United States, obtain work permits, and avoid forced deportation.

Now the Supreme Court and a federal court in Washington D.C.—the former in June and the latter in August of this year—have approved cancellation of the measure, making the threat of deportation increasingly real for the 331,000 Haitians who benefit from TPS.

Emma is a pseudonym used to protect her anonymity and allow her to testify to Vatican News about what she is experiencing.

She explained that the surveillance and arrests of many Haitians by ICE agents—the federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S. immigration laws—are experienced by her entire community as a “cruel hunt,” because “those agents even proudly display people in handcuffs as though they were prey.”