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The NAACP reportedly filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Department of Homeland Security in its mistreatment of Haitian migrants.
“President Trump has made clear that he wishes to reduce the number of immigrants of color to the United States,” NAACP attorneys wrote. “The rescission of Haiti’s TPS is part of that agenda.”
As CASSIUS previously reported, the Trump administration in November announced plans to end the Temporary Protected Status program that’s allowed close to 60,000 Haitians to live and work in the States since the disastrous earthquake that ravaged the country in 2010. According to The Boston Globe, Haitians who currently have temporary protected status will be expected to leave the states by July 2019 or face deportation. All this while Haiti continues to recover and “relies heavily on money its expatriates send to relatives back home,” as The Globe notes.
The NAACP also accused the DHS of attempting to criminalize Haitians who depend on the government for assistance as a means to justify the removal of their temporary protected status.
“They were obviously trying to cobble together an explanation for making a decision they already had made,” NAACP General Counsel Bradford Berry told Mic on Thursday.
While DHS Secretary Elaine Duke said issues caused by the 2010 earthquake no longer exist in Haiti and that the country is capable of taking in the estimated 58,000 families who left for the U.S., food and housing shortages—along with a reported cholera epidemic—say otherwise.
“Rescinding TPS is supposed to be based on an assessment of conditions on the ground in Haiti,” Berry continued. “Nothing DHS said about their decision really addressed the reasons TPS was initiated at the time.”
Berry added that the NAACP will continue to work toward proving its case with the evidence gathered.
