Sunday, January 28, 2018

TPS Termination: What It Means for Haitians and Hondurans

\The media focus on Trump’s DACA termination shouldn’t distract us from the ongoing threat to  more than 400,000 immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). So far, the administration has announced end dates for Haitian, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, and Sudanese TPS recipients, and Hondurans are afraid they’ll be next. Haitian groups are trying to get public attention for the suffering the policy will inflict on survivors of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. Hondurans, meanwhile, are watching the violent suppression of protests as a U.S.-backed president takes office; international observers refused to certify his highly questionable election last November.—TPOI editor

Maica’s Story

By Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees
To Whom It May Concern:  My name is Maica and I immigrated from Haiti after the deadlyearthquake in 2010. There I was buried under a building for six days and was presumed dead. My eleven year old little brother and my aunt died right next to me, and both decomposed on top of me during the six days that I was there. When they finally unearthed me, although my little brother had died, I managed to survive. After battling an infection that couldn’t be treated, I had to have both of my legs amputated. Luckily I was flown to New York where I was hospitalized for many months and had many, many surgeries.

Here, I was helped by many strangers who became my family over the years. I was blessed enough to get a scholarship to a lovely prestigious high school. I was able to graduate and go to college. Over the years, I was helped by the Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR), an organization that responds to the needs of Haitian refugees and immigrants, for which I am a volunteer. During my schooling, I volunteered for several other organizations such as The Epiphany Soup Kitchen, Surgeons of Hope and Methodist Hospital. I was also able to work at my high school’s summer camp, the Salvation Army and Goodwill. Then I attended nursing school for three years where I got my Associate in Nursing Sciences.[…]

Read the full statement:

Amid fierce protest, Honduras inaugurates a president accused of stealing the election

Between Nov. 29 and Dec. 31, at least 30 people were killed, 232 wounded and 1,085 detained, according to the Committee of the Families of the Disappeared in Honduras, a human rights group.

By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times
January 27, 2018
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was sworn in for a second term Saturday amid violent clashes between police and protesters who insist Hernandez was not legitimately elected.

Soldiers and riot police fired tear gas and set up barricades to block thousands of demonstrators from marching to Tegucigalpa's National Stadium, where Hernandez was presented with the blue-and-white sash of office in an elaborate morning ceremony.[…]

Read the full article:
Juan Orlando Hernandez inauguration in Honduras. Photo: Eduardo Verdugo/AP

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