City councilmember Mercedes Narcisse delivered an emotional speech on Thursday in support of Haitian TPS holders. (Photo by Cole Sinanian).
BY COLE SINANIAN
cole@queensledger.com
BOROUGH HALL — It’s been a stressful few weeks for the Haitian Brooklynites under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), who could lose their legal residency later this month thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision. On Thursday, Haitian-Americans from throughout Brooklyn and the country turned out in force at Brooklyn Borough Hall to rally in support of the Haitian diaspora amid uncertainty over their future in the US.
Haiti is among the dozen countries whose residents can receive TPS, which protects immigrants who hail from countries suffering major catastrophes like natural disasters or civil unrest. In a 6-3 decision on June 25, the Supreme Court ruled that the president can revoke TPS from Haitian and Syrian immigrants, falling in line with Trump’s hardline immigration agenda and sending shockwaves through New York City’s 184,000-strong Haitian community, about 5,400 of which are under TPS.
At the rally inside Borough Hall Thursday — organized as part of a nationwide demonstration in support of Haitian immigrants — US Representative Yvette Clarke, New York City councilmembers Farah Louis, Mercedes Narcisse, Lincoln Restler, and Rita Joseph, as well as dozens of grassroots organizers and advocates blasted the Trump Administration and called on Congress to take immediate action to restore TPS. They also highlighted the economic and social contributions of Haitian TPS holders, many of whom work in healthcare.
“I am filled with righteous rage and moral indignation at the fact that there are no lengths that Donald Trump, his congressional cronies, and their lackeys on the Supreme Court will not go to to hurt the most vulnerable people in the world,” Clarke said in her speech.
Clarke recalled Trump’s propagating of racist and baseless rumors that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio back in 2024, before going on to slam the Department of Homeland Security, which she said had “made tracking down immigrants” a “blood sport.”
“Who brought nothing but vitality to the economy in a town that was losing population and dying rapidly?” Clarke said of Springfield. “The Haitian immigrants brought that city back to life. Likewise, they are doing that across this nation were it not for the expertise and skills of our Haitian sisters and brothers, where would our healthcare system be today?
Faiza Ali, who leads the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, called on the Senate to pass SB 4814, which would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to re-designate Haiti for TPS.
“Temporary protected status was created for moments exactly like these-moments when war, political instability, and natural disasters make it unsafe for people to return home,” Ali said. “Ending these protections does not change those realities; it only puts families at risk.”
In an emotional speech, Mercedes Narcisse — who was born in Haiti and represents parts of southeastern Brooklyn in the City Council — doubled down on the Haitian community’s contributions to healthcare.
“They are doctors, they are nurses, they are educators,” Narcisse said. “They are serving in the nursing home, in the hospital, they are in your classroom. Those are the scary people we’re talking about. Do we look scary to you? I don’t think I’m scary.”
Dr. Guerda Nicholas, who immigrated to Brooklyn from Haiti as a teenager and now works as a doctor at the University of Miami. (Photo by Cole Sinanian).
As the politicians spoke, Haitian-born Dr. Guerda Nicolas stood in the room’s back corner, holding up a scarf woven in the blue and red of the Haitian flag. Dr. Nicolas, who grew up in Brooklyn, had traveled to Borough Hall from Florida as part of a coalition of Haitian-American politicians and professionals. She works as a physician at the University of Miami, where she said the removal of TPS has wrought havoc on hospital staff.
“We just had to let go of 37 nurses and healthcare professionals who are all on TPS,” she told the Brooklyn Star. “ And we’re not alone. Imagine what that’s going to look like at the hospitals. It really is going to be a set of crises, not just for us, but also for the whole entire community in the U.S.”
Dr. Nicolas explained how she’d emigrated to Brooklyn at 17 from a rural town near Haiti’s southern shore. She spoke almost no English when she arrived, but still managed to achieve a near-perfect score on her SAT, earning her admission to Cornell University. She said she returns to Haiti every month to visit family, and that despite popular perceptions of the country, much of its more rural regions remain largely unscathed by the violence that’s rocked the capital, Port-au-Prince.
“I’m not here to say if my country is unsafe. For the last 30 years, I’ve been going home every single month. So clearly, I’m okay. But it’s important for us to not force people into resettlement.”
Several speakers at the rally evoked Haiti’s revolutionary past. Widely cited as the most successful slave revolt in history, the Haitian Revolution saw enslaved Africans, led by Toussaint Louverture, launch an insurrection against French Colonial rule that resulted in the abolition of slavery and the formation of an independent state.
“This is the one slave revolt in the entire Americas that led to Black people taking their freedom,” said City councilmember Lincoln Restler in his speech. “So the Haitian people are a heroic people, and they have been paying the price for a long time.”
Flatbush resident Lyndon Nicholas, who helps organize Brooklynites of Caribbean descent against deportation as co-coordinator of the Defans Karayib (Caribbean Defense), said he and his organization look to the Haitian Revolution as inspiration for lasting, grassroots change.
“It came out of people who were disconnected, but were connected through will of force and through will of organization,” Nicholas said. “I think this is an opportunity now to be inspired by that history and call on it to think about how we respond to what’s happening to Haiti and to people who live on TPS.”
He continued: “People are worried, but I think more importantly, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to respond in a way that deepens the strength of our community.”
