Can you blame them?
They rightfully fear being arrested:
From a tiny office behind a Haitian grocery store on Springfield’s South Limestone Street, Margery Koveleski has spent years helping local Haitians overcome bureaucratic red tape to make their lives in the Ohio city a little bit easier.
But Koveleski – whose family is Haitian – has noticed a major change recently.
Haitians are now coming to her to figure out how to leave.
“Some folks don’t have credit cards or access to the internet, and they want to buy a bus ticket or a plane ticket, so we help them book a flight,” she told the Guardian recently. “People are leaving.”
Koveleski, leaders in Springfield’s Haitian community, and others have relayed reports of Haitians fleeing the city of 60,000 people in recent days for fear of being rounded up and deported after Donald Trump’s victory in the 5 November presidential election.
“The owner of one store is wondering if he should move back to New York or to Chicago – he says his business is way down,” Koveleski remarked.
Trump has repeatedly said he would end immigrants’ temporary protected status (TPS) – the provision through which many Haitians are legally allowed to live and work in the US – and deport Haitians from Springfield once in office.
For many, the threats are real.
A sheriff in Sidney, a town 40 miles (64km) north-west of Springfield that is home to several dozen Haitian immigrants, allegedly told local police in September to “get a hold of these people and arrest them”.
“Bring them – I’ll figure out if they’re legal,” he said, referencing Haitian immigrants in the area.
Don’t worry they’ll all be whining that the economy that was doing so well is failing because of some other racial or ethnic minority. It’s never them.
This is what Trump and his cult want — they want to rid the country of immigrants. And if they get that done they’ll turn their attention to Black and Brown Americans. That’s what this is really all about.
Haitians fled a desperate situation in which criminal gangs have taken over their country. They’re here in the US legally, working at jobs they couldn’t find locals to do, becoming part of the community as law abiding, taxpayers. And now they’re being chased out of town by a bunch of right wing losers all because Donald Trump needed to run for president again to salve his wounded ego.