DHS secretary makes unexpected visit to Miami after protecting Haitians from deportation

Seven months after President Joe Biden promised to review his predecessor’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status for nearly 60,000 Haitians in the United States if elected, his top immigration official came to Miami Tuesday to tout his making good on his word.

Visiting the Little Haiti Cultural Complex in Miami, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with dozens of Haitian community activists and South Florida leaders for over an hour. During the meeting, he discussed the Biden administration’s announcement over the weekend to provide protected status to more than 100,000 Haitians currently in the U.S., and heard the community’s concerns.

“Our president, President Biden, made a commitment of Temporary Protected Status during the campaign,” Mayorkas said, standing in almost the same spot as Biden did when he met with a group of Haitian-American elected officials on Oct. 5, 2020, while on the presidential campaign trail. “He has realized that commitment.”

On Saturday, Mayorkas announced that eligible Haitians living in the U.S. as of May 21 would be able to apply for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. The decision wasn’t just an extension for those whose status was set to expire on Oct. 4, but would allow a broader group of undocumented Haitians to apply for the humanitarian protection.

During the meeting, community leaders expressed gratitude but also raised a number of concerns. They ranged from the dire conditions in a crisis-laden Haiti, which influenced the administration’s decision, to the end of expulsions of asylum seekers, to concerns about the time Haitians will have to apply for the humanitarian benefit. Some also demanded the closure of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers and the reinstatement of the Haitian Family Reunification program, which allows certain beneficiaries of approved family-based immigration petitions to await approval in the U.S. The program was terminated by former President Donald Trump.

“This great decision is overdue,” said Steve Forester, a Haitian community activist who was among those invited to meet with Mayorkas. “Biden has expelled about 2,000 Haitians on 34 flights since Feb. 1 despite the crisis in Haiti making expulsions unsafe. Now the State Department should change our Haiti policy ... and President Biden [should] keep his Oct. 5 campaign promise to restart the Haitian Family Reunification program.”

Guerline Jozef, one of three community leaders whose activism on the TPS issue was singled out by Mayorkas during the meeting, said the secretary’s unexpected visit was welcome.

“We heard a lot of different voices raised today, very strong, very powerful voices within the Haitian-American community here,” said Jozef, the founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance in San Diego, California, who flew to Miami for the historic meeting.

Jozef said that while more work remains to be done, Mayorkas’ visit was “a show of good faith..”

“He showed a willingness to continue to work with the community to bring a solution to the various concerns that were raised,” said Jozef, a vehement proponent of ending U..S. expulsions under the public health measure known as Title 42. The measure allows immigration officials to expel asylum seekers without due process.

Mayorkas’ visit to South Florida coincided with a roundtable discussion on immigration Tuesday by another member of the administration. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg met with Service Employees International Union airport workers at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

In both events, officials heard from activists, leaders and Haitian immigrants, who spoke of the need for a permanent solution for immigrants enrolled in TPS as well as those who remain undocumented.

“The immigration system is broken and it is time that it is repaired and we need strong leadership and courage to make sure that it happens,” said Marleine Bastien, the executive director of the Family Action Network Movement.

Bastien came not only with her concerns about a permanent solution for TPS holders and the 11 million undocumented migrants in the U.S., but during the meeting with Mayorkas raised concerns about U.S. policy in Haiti. Walking with a folder detailing atrocities under the current Haitian government, she said she hoped the DHS secretary would take back to Biden the call for the administration to heed the voices of Haitians asking for a change in U.S. policy toward the Caribbean nation.

Mayorkas didn’t make any promises, other than he would take some of the immigration concerns back to Washington for review.

“We’re grateful for this incredibly important short term relief but we want a long-term solution — immigration reform,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said, as she headed into the meeting with Mayorkas. “We’ve had a lot of changes already early in this administration and I am hopeful that we can see a way forward to real immigration reform.”

Levine Cava also said that the Federal Register has yet to indicate when Haitians can start to apply for TPS, so she was concerned about the amount of time they would have once the process opens. She also raised concerns about the Central Americans whose TPS status is targeted for termination.

“There are other communities that are suffering that need the same relief and we are looking to the Biden administration to expand the program to those other countries,” she said.

Mayorkas, asked about the fate of Central Americans in the program, made no commitments.

In Washington, Buttigieg said granting TPS to Haitians was an “important step,” but the government can do more to expedite a pathway to citizenship for TPS holders.

“We’ve got a lot more work to do,” Buttigieg said. “That includes the comprehensive immigration package that the Biden-Harris administration has proposed, including a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, an expedited path for farm workers, for DREAMers, and for those with Temporary Protected Status, and good policies to address the root causes of migration from Central America.

“We actually have significant bipartisan support on a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers, for TPS holders and for farm workers,” he added. “So Congress could start right there, right now.”

During the discussion, Buttigieg heard from several airport workers about their immigration experiences, and at one point thanked a worker in Spanish for sharing her story.

The secretary reacted strongly to the story of Marie Chery, a single mother who works as a cleaner at Fort Lauderdale International Airport who came to the U.S. from Haiti in 2002. She broke down in tears at the event, sharing her immigration struggle.

“TPS is an important step, but we need to make the situation more certain, more safe, more confident for everybody who is impacted,” Buttigieg said. “I don’t know how anyone can listen to your story and not think we have to do more.”

Both Buttigieg and SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry, who also addressed the event, said that the burden on essential workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for an immigration overhaul.

“We have many Haitian members in airports, in health care, in nursing homes throughout this nation who jumped for joy when that designation occurred,” said Henry. “It is long past time to honor essential workers and make our nation stronger and more prosperous by providing a pathway to citizenship for everyone who calls this country home.”