TPS Alliance: Rescind Trump’s ‘racist policies on immigration’
By Nelson A. King
The National TPS (Temporary
Protected Status) Alliance’s
“Road to Justice” nation-wide
journey arrived in Brooklyn on
Nov. 8, holding the incoming
Biden-Harris administration to
its promise of reversing what
it describes as Trump’s “racist
policies on immigration.”
The Alliance’s “Road to Justice”
bus stopped at Parkside
Plaza, at the corner of Parkside
and Ocean Avenues in Flatbush,
for a press conference
and rally.
There, the Alliance was hosted
by Haitian Women for Haitian
Refugees’s TPS Committee,
with allied organizations,
including African Communities
Together, Adhikaar, Flanbwayan
and Take Root Justice.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
campaigned on a promise
that, in the first 100 days of the
Biden-Harris administration,
they would reverse Trump’s
discriminatory policies on
immigration, including protecting
TPS holders and DACA
(Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals) recipients, ending
family separation and restoring
asylum laws,” Ninaj Raoul,
of Haitian Women for Haitian
Refugees, told Caribbean Life
on Monday.
“Now, we will go to Washington
Traveling puts you, your
loved ones and our community
at risk of getting sick and spreading
COVID-19.
If you must travel, be prepared
to get tested for COVID-19 and
to quarantine when you return.
Caribbean L 16 ife, Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2020
to fight for a permanent
solution – permanent residency
for all 400,000 TPS holders,”
she added. “In January
2021, we are going to pressure
the White House to demand
that if they truly reject racism
and the nationalist acts of
the past administration, they
must favor our community and
approve a permanent residency
now.
“We will continue to fight to
approve a permanent residency
for more than 400,000 TPS
recipients within the first 100
days of the next administration,”
Raoul continued. “Once
we do, we don’t expect to go
home.
“We will remove the fragments
of damage left behind
by this (Trump’s) administration,”
she said. “We must keep
fighting until this country recognizes
the humanity of all
immigrants.”
Raoul noted that the Trump
administration has terminated
TPS for 400,000 people from
Haiti, El Salvador, Sudan, Nicaragua,
Nepal and Honduras,
and ended Deferred Enforced
Departure (DED) for Liberia.
In response, several lawsuits
have been filed in US district
courts.
“The basis of most of the
lawsuits is that the decisions
to end TPS was rooted
in racial discrimination, violating
required Immigration
and Nationality Act, INA, and
Administrative Procedures
Act, or APA, procedures, and
infringed on the Constitutional
rights of TPS beneficiaries,”
Raoul said.
She said Naischa is a plaintiff
in one of the lawsuits, Saget
v. Trump, which was filed in
the US District Court for the
Eastern District of New York in
Brooklyn.
This lawsuit challenges the
Trump administration’s decision
to terminate TPS for Haitians.
Raoul said that the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
(NAACP) also filed a lawsuit
against the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) on
behalf of Haitian TPS holders.
Haitian Women for Haitian
Refugees is a plaintiff in
this case, which is represented
by the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund.
In addition, Raoul said members
of the National TPS Alliance,
together with NDLON,
“organized around” Ramos et
al v. Nielsen, a class action lawsuit
filed by nine TPS recipients
and five US citizen children of
TPS holders against the DHS
in the US District Court in
the Northern District of California.
Naischa Vilme (speaking) and Melissa Cetoute, who is standing to her left, with the red hair.
Both are Haitian TPS holders, who are active in the fi ght for TPS to Residency. Both are
members of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees’ TPS Committee. Dahoud Andre
STAY SAFE, STAY HOME!
DO NOT TRAVEL THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.
For more information about COVID-19, visit nyc.gov/health/coronavirus.
For the latest information regarding NYS travel restrictions, visit
ny.gov/traveladvisory.
/coronavirus
/traveladvisory
