SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
The future of many migrants living legally in the United States is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. It heard oral arguments yesterday on whether the Trump administration can strip some migrants of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. That program lets people from troubled countries stay temporarily in the U.S. If the court sides with the administration, that could lead to more mass deportations, and one of the largest migrant groups affected would be Haitians. More than 350,000 migrants from Haiti now live in the U.S. using TPS. How are they feeling as they await the court's decision? We're going to put that question to Marleine Bastien. She was born in Haiti, and she's a member of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. Miami, Florida, is home to tens of thousands of Haitians protected by TPS. Commissioner Bastien, welcome to the program.
MARLEINE BASTIEN: Oh, thank you so much for having me.
PFEIFFER: Certainly, many different Haitians who are in the U.S. under TPS feel different ways right now. But what would you say is the collective mood of Haitians as their protected status gets deliberated?
BASTIEN: The collective moods of over 350,000 Haitians is very, very gloomy. I've been hearing from people telling me, Commissioner, I'm so sad. It doesn't bode well for us. Commissioner, what are we going to do? And these are phrases I've been hearing, you know, so much for several months. Families are scared to death.
PFEIFFER: It's been since 2010 that Haitians were granted Temporary Protected Status. So as you said, many of them lived here for a very long time - more than 15 years. If they end up being told they have to leave, or if they end up being forcibly removed, where are they likely to end up?
BASTIEN: That's a good question because Haiti is unsafe. Gangs control the capital of Port-au-Prince. Those who have been deported have been going to Cap-Haitien, but Cap-Haitien is bursting at it seems right now.
PFEIFFER: A city in Haiti, right?
BASTIEN: Yeah. That's the only place where they can go. So the question is, where are they going to go? You know, Haitians have made their lives here. They are very present in different industries like healthcare, education, construction, hospitality. Removing them will hurt our local economies and businesses. These are people who have called the U.S. their homes, and then they have among themselves thousands of U.S.-born children. We are asking people to leave everything they know and to go to a place where their lives may be in danger. This is creating a lot of anxiety. A lot of family members who own businesses, who own their homes, who hired people - they do not know what to do.
PFEIFFER: Part of the Trump administration argument is that Temporary Protected Status - just as its name says - is meant to be temporary. And there are many Americans who agree with that argument, even if they're sympathetic to the plight of the Haitians. What is your response to that?
BASTIEN: Temporary means temporary in as much as the country is safe. Haiti today is not safe. There are over 1.5 million Haitians displaced. Women and girls fare worse. In the place where I was born, there was a massacre recently where over 70 people were killed - hacked to death. I personally have two cousins who were hacked to death, 31 and 28, and there is no recourse. The entire infrastructure has been destroyed and has not been rebuilt.
PFEIFFER: One more big-picture question for you - what do you think is the long-term solution for migrants who might lose their protected legal immigration status, whether it's in the U.S., maybe parts of Europe, but whose home countries are so unstable that they're unsafe to return to? So if they're somehow stuck in the middle, where should they go? What should be done with them?
BASTIEN: That's why I think our Congress need to act. I think Congress needs to act to protect these people. The Statue of Liberty, you know, charges that the U.S. to accept the tired and the poor, the masses of people yearning to be free. And then these people, when they came here, they put all their lives, everything they know - people with unbreakable faith - in this principle of being a beacon of hope and safety and liberty for them. So forcing them to leave everything they know to a nation in turmoil, with their U.S.-born children, will not serve any purpose because their country is in turmoil. It is not safe.
PFEIFFER: Marleine Bastien is on the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner, thank you for talking with us.
BASTIEN: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
