Rony Ponthieux does not know if, from January, he will have to sell his space or if he will go to paint or pay his bills, they may simply sport it.
Ponthieux, a Haitian citizen living in Miami Gardens, has forged a life in the United States since his arrival in 1999. He has two young men born in the United States: a 20-year-old son in the army and a 13-year-old son. One-year-old daughter. He is a nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital and has been at the helm of the COVID-19 pandemic for months.
“I put my life at stake to save American lives,” he said. “This is my calling. I dream of being able to help people. “
But Ponthieux is one of thousands of people whose prestige of transience in the United States can be revoked, making his long term uncertain.
The Immigration Act of 1990 allows these immigrants to discharge what is known as transitional coverage status, grants a paint permit, and delays the possible deportation of people from countries experiencing armed conflict, environmental crises, or other ordinary and transient circumstances.
The newly designated countries for transitory coverage are El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, according to U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
President Donald Trump’s administration has begun ending GST protections in 2017.
Supporters of the GST program say the countries included in the program remain volatile and dangerous, so the United States expands protections.
Haiti suffered a magnitude 7. 0 earthquake on January 12, 2010. The Haitian government estimates that another 300,000 people have died. Haitians, such as Ponthieux, who were in the United States at the time but did not have citizenship, received GST protections.
When Ponthieux arrived in the United States, he claimed that he had done so on a tourist visa, that he had applied for political asylum and had been denied asylum. The only explanation why he was able to stay in the United States is because he has the GST, and when he fled I would ask him to stay where he raised his children.
His paintings on the pandemic lines stored American lives, he said.
“In return, I will be expelled, ” Ponthieux.
Approximately 411,000 foreign citizens earn GST, according to the Congressional Research Service, and more than 56,000 of them in Florida. While USCIS extends all GST documentation until January 4, a number of overlapping judicial instances involving express countries are still ongoing, creating confusion and fear. GST holders.
In a 2017 interview with the Daily News, Beatrice Jacquet-Castor, president of the Haitian-American Community Coalition in southwest Florida, said the completion of the GST affects some 10,000 of the 20,000 Haitians in southwest Florida.
Cadet Saint Louis, a coordinator founded in Immokalee with the Florida Nonprofit Agricultural Workers Association and Haiti itself, said Haiti’s GST holders subsernified themselves and their families. Works with GST holders through their role in the nonprofit
“They have to wait and see, and some of them say, “I just pray it doesn’t happen, but if that happens, I don’t know what I’m going to do, ” said Louis. “The concern is to be deported to a country that is even sustained. “
The US State Department has not been able to do so. But it’s not the first time It classifies Haiti in a Level Four warning, the highest of its four levels, “Do Not Do,” for “crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and COVID-19. “Other countries that share this designation are Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Brazil and Cuba.
“Haiti has made progress in recovering the 2010 earthquake and the following effects that shaped the foundations of its designation,” reads in an opinion by USCIS and DHS.
More: Trump team uses new logic to end GST program for thousands of legal immigrants
And: Trump administration oversteorated U. S. embassy to end immigration program
This justification, which no longer requires coverage in Haiti, is consistent with the preference of agencies to complete GST designations for other countries such as Sudan, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Adonia Simpson, a lawyer at Miami-based nonprofit law firm American Immigrant Justice, said legal combat to TPS protections was underway.
“There have been so much in the field of immigration, and from what we’ve seen, lawsuits are being filed to challenge certain regulations and decisions made through the administration,” he said. “Ultimately, we inspire all recipient GPEs to consult an immigration attorney. “
In September, california-based Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overdulled an earlier ruling blocking President Trump’s decision to finalize the GST for others in El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. However, the USCIS notes that a separate court case has still been completed. New York means that protections continue for the countries involved.
Simpson stated that TPS never intended to be a long-term solution.
“Temporary coverage has never been intended to last that long, and this is a testament to the larger disruptions that there has to be something permanent,” Simpson said.
For GST holders, the path and then citizenship lengthens and becomes darker.
TPS holders have traditionally been able to apply for early parole, which can pave the way for residency. Holders may use early parole to stop at their families or non-public issues outside the United States, and return to the United States with Early Parole thought of as legal access to adjust their prestige and unload residency.
The policy has recently been replaced for early parole to give TPS holders legal admission for this purpose, Simpson said.
“There are more needs going on, and those processes are getting to the point where you just can’t do it without a lawyer,” Simpson said. “It’s just creating a scenario where the formula is so incredibly complex that it’s an impediment in itself. “
Immigration advocates say the end of GST protections can devastate families.
Ted Hutchinson, Florida director of the immigration advocacy and criminal justice reform organization FWD. us, said the completion of the GST would mean that some former beneficiaries would enter the United States illegally.
“You’ve been building this life in America for over 10 years. He’s got kids. You have a network you serve,” he says. “They have a home, they pay taxes and they contribute to their network. “
Some will return to their home countries, he said, but most likely they will retire to stay on the counter and paintings, and may be exploited without any legal coverage to turn to.
Farah Larrieux, an entrepreneur and GST holder living in Miramar, said she supported members of the circle of relatives still in her home country.
“I’m someone who believes in human well-being and I feel like no one deserves not to be able to do it on their own,” he said.
With a single job, Louis said, a user living in the United States can help a group of members of the family circle in Haiti. In addition to fears of wasting their skills to help members of the family circle in their home countries, Louis said GST headlines are also involved in how they will be able to pay for their homes, cars, or U. S. -born children.
“They have to find a way to the paintings, to take care of their families,” he said. “Perhaps some of them will see pictures under the table or pictures with whether they can get money. I know you’re going to have to locate a way to locate something. »
Pastor Max Maromontel, founder of the Lee County Refugee Center, said they have an effect that extends beyond the TPS headline.
“When you see an immigrant here, we don’t just paint for ourselves, because we have nephews, we have sisters, we have brothers, we have a community in Haiti,” he says.
The GST forks he works with through his company are afraid, Maromontel said.
“They are afraid of death. It caused them depression, anxiety,” he said. “People are afraid. They’re involved in that decision. This management is so pleased with the so-called immigrant. People are so scared. “
Larrieux and Ponthieux this fear.
“Someone like me, a very open and very outgoing person, ” said Larrieux. “Someone like me, I know he could be kidnapped or temporarily killed in Haiti.
A report by the U. S. Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory CouncilBut it’s not the first time He said crime statistics are difficult to verify, however, the Haitian National Police reported 35 kidnappings in 2019 and 53 in 2019. The report also indicates that homicides remain a major concern, with 787 homicides. reported in 2019.
Ponthieux said he was concerned about what might happen to his circle of relatives if he was deported.
“My greatest fear now is my family, my children. Especially my 13-year-old daughter,” she says. She’s never been to Haiti, I’m going to have to move with her to a country she’s never met.
Maromontel supports a transparent path to citizenship for GST recipients such as Larrieux and Ponthieux.
“If a user is not engaged in a crime, give them citizenship. If the user has a smart character, give them citizenship,” he said. “Give the user their green card so they can keep working, buy cars, have a home of their own. “, buying furniture, paying taxes, will grow the U. S. economy. “
Daily News reporter Omar Rodríguez Ortiz and USA correspondent TODAY Alan Gómez contributed to the report.