All posts tagged: Haitian immigrants

A cruel war is disempowering our empowering communities

A cruel war is disempowering our empowering communities

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s “border czar,” recently announced that the spectacle of violence and cruelty in Minneapolis, which resulted in the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, was coming to an end. It’s worth taking stock of what the city and the country have been through over the past two months as federal agents targeted highly visible communities in Minnesota that are marked by their skin color and non-European origins. The Department of Homeland Security’s anti-immigrant surges are said to be aimed at sanctuary cities or Democratic ones. But nearly everywhere its agents have appeared, DHS has focused on Somali, Haitian, southeast Asian (Hmong, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai), Arab and Latino immigrants and their American citizen families. On Feb. 2, a federal judge halted a cruel plan hatched by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to end Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 Haitian immigrants, a move that would have made these legal residents suddenly subject to deportation. While Noem argued that Haiti’s situation had improved and TPS was no longer …

Judge stops Noem from ending Haitians’ protected status, but fear of ICE remains

Judge stops Noem from ending Haitians’ protected status, but fear of ICE remains

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — In a last-minute ruling on Monday (Feb. 2), a U.S. district judge in Washington halted the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to end temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants. TPS, which allows designated Haitian nationals to live and work in the United States, was set to expire on Tuesday (Feb. 3) for some 350,000 people.   In her ruling on Miot v. Trump, which was filed in July 2025, Judge Ana C. Reyes said the TPS termination announced by DHS Secretary Krisi Noem was “null, void, and of no legal effect.”  Reyes wrote that Noem’s claims that Haiti’s current situation didn’t justify an extension of the status didn’t align with the certified administrative record’s findings that the island was plagued by a “perfect storm of suffering” and “staggering humanitarian toll.” She also noted that Noem didn’t consult other agencies in making her decision and that she didn’t have unbounded discretion to end the status.  “Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful …

As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE

As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE

Published by Sam Flores

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (RNS) — “We have orders of deportation,” said a volunteer in a raised voice, posing as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and pounding on the sanctuary door. “What you’re doing is harboring.” Inside the sanctuary, hundreds of trainees blocked the large wooden double doors. One called out, “We’re exercising our First Amendment right to freedom of worship.”   The handful of faux ICE agents moved to a different entryway. As they pried open the side door to the sanctuary, some trainees held up phones to record the encounter while others blew whistles. The scenario was part of a roleplay exercise at a rapid response training in Springfield, Ohio, on Saturday (Jan. 24). Despite the winter storm in the forecast, nearly 200 people from in and around Springfield gathered at Central Christian Church for the event organized by G92, a new Springfield-based coalition of pro-immigrant churches and advocates named after the 92 times the Hebrew word “ger,” which means stranger or sojourner, appears in the Hebrew Bible. “For many people, this isn’t just …