San Diego Haitian aid group reacts to 'traumatic' Supreme Court ruling on temporary protections

S1: Well , welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , the Haitian Bridge Alliance joins us to talk about the Supreme Court's recent ruling on immigration cases. This is KPBS Midday Edition connecting our communities through conversation. So the US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can end temporary protections for Haitians and Syrians. The ruling has put more than 350,000 people at risk of losing their ability to legally work in the country , and even opens them up to the risk of deportation. The San Diego Tijuana region is home to thousands of Haitians , many with Temporary Protected Status , or TPS. I'm joined now by Galena Joseph , director and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. For years , they have been providing support and advocating for Haitian migrants and others in our region. Guerlain , thank you so much for being here. Good.

S2: Good. Good afternoon Jade. Thank you so much for having me.

S1: So I'm glad to have this conversation with you first. What was your initial reaction to the Supreme Court ruling allowing for the federal government to end protected protection and protected status for Haitians in the U.S.?

S2: A traumatic , to say the least. Knowing what that implies , knowing we have over 350,000 people whose lives have been in the United States for three , five , six , some of them over 15 years. And the reality of family separation , detention , deportation and all the pain that comes with that. I have to be honest with you , I had to stop for a moment so I could be able to breathe because it felt like I was about to be suffocated. Um , and that was as a result of the calls and the emails and the need of the community here in San Diego , where we have a large Haitian community that has been here for a very long time , but also the largest that have been coming , you know , for the past ten , 15 a years. So this is a reality that I had to literally stop before I headed to the Supreme Court for a press conference in Raleigh. Uh , to actually really see how the injustice of our justice system continues to be the norm right now.

S1: I know this is creating a lot of anxiety. Uh , you know , and there's the potential for a lot of folks to be uprooted with this decision. How is it impacting San Diego's Haitian community specifically right now?

S2: We have a monthly community engagement here in San Diego , where we are headquartered. Um , and we normally have between 2 to 400 families coming in. The children play , uh , they give , uh , they get legal advice and they get the food , the diapers and the basic necessities they need. They get the medical checkups with our partners here. And to be honest with you , yesterday , we only have about 100. Uh , sadly , we only had about 100 , which tells you we barely had a quarter of the people who normally come to get their support because they are afraid. They are already afraid to step out of the homes , to go to church , to come get the support that they need to go to the hospital. Uh , people who were planning on sending their children to summer school and , and other things that regular people are supposed to do during that. At that time , they are already unable to do that. So we do not know what the summer will look like for the community. But what I can tell you , uh , on Saturday during our community engagement , we had barely a quarter of what we normally have on a monthly basis. So this is real. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. And , you know , this this fear of of maybe being picked up and fear of leaving your home and just going about daily life and participating in daily society has been , you know , something that's been growing for a while. I'm curious and all of that. Have you all had to sort of change how you provide resources to the community , how you help the community? Have you had to switch that up at all? Absolutely.

S2: Absolutely. And to be honest with you , we had to be extremely flexible because every time there's a news of a termination , the same thing happened. You know , right before February , between November and January , we saw a decrease of people being able to leave their homes. Um , and so we we've experienced it before , and we know how dire it is and how the community is impacted. So what we had had to do before was to change the way we were doing outreach and education. Um , instead of having large groups , you know , meeting , we we were forced to actually reaching on a one on one , which means there is no way we as a small team can actually do one on one with over 5 to 6000 people within the community. So we are , um , struggling to be able to come up with a model that will be sustainable , to actually be able to make sure that the communities , the mothers , the pregnant women have the support that they need. The young babies have the diaper that they need , the food that they need to be able to support themselves. Uh , people are even afraid to get into , uh , the legal services that they need. And to be honest with you. On Saturday , we had at least two people who came with a letter of deportation. What we started seeing since Saturday is that people were receiving letters of deportation under false pretense , because they told them they were supposed to show up to date to a court hearing Friday , and they are saying , oh , you didn't show up to your court hearing on Friday. So therefore today , Saturday , you are ordered deported. The reality is we have not received the letter. They did not receive the letter. It seems as if they were just waiting for the Supreme Court to drop this , this extreme injustice on the on , on the , on the community and be able to use that tactic to literally potentially start their deportation machine. So we are trying to see what is the best way to do one on one outreach. And that could look like having to drop off the diapers and the food , uh , to people who are seeking and vulnerable within the community , within the county of San Diego.

S1: How can people in the community help?

S2: We are calling on on community faith leaders to provide safe space , uh , for people to be able to come to , uh , in their time of need. We are asking people to reach out and volunteer. As I mentioned , we might need more hands and feet to be able to feed those who cannot leave their homes. Uh , we welcome people to reach out via email. Our email address is info. INFO at Haitian Bridge. Org and also reach out to us via phone and also our office is in um is in um , um , is in San Diego where we will welcome any support , but at the same time. Uh , any donation will be welcomed. We have never seen Since our time here in San Diego asked for any donations , any financial support , we've been able to try to do the best that we can. But we are right now at the cusp of where we need every dime , every penny that we could receive in order for us to continue the work that we do. It is critical and there there are not enough support for the community. Please remember we are talking about black immigrants. In addition to all the issues we have the anti-Blackness , the white nationalist ideology. And remember that the Supreme Court , uh , ruling is in line with President Trump and his administration ruling on the basis of why they themselves are terminated to us. For Haiti was really deeply in anti-Black racism , in anti-Asian prejudice after they called Haiti as whole country. They did not want to receive black people from Haiti and African countries. They would welcome people who are blond hair and whiten and blue eyes from Norway. And we see right now the government is only receiving white Africans from South Africa under false pretense that they are being attacked in South Africa. So we see clearly that their their goal and their dreams are being realized as they are removing legal status from people. And I want to clarify that those people currently have legal status in what the government is doing , is removing that legal status , making them undocumented in order for them to be deported , while at the same time importing white Africans with a welcome package to the United States. Mhm.

S1: Mhm. And you mentioned all of that. And so much of it is front and center. Now , there's a long history here , though , of this disparate treatment of black immigrants coming to the U.S.. Talk to me a bit more about that. Yes.

S2: Yes. So so people can understand historically , Haitians specifically have always been a part of the United States from the very foundation of this country. We have. Chicago was founded by a Haitian immigrant. So basically we have cities that are founded by Haitian immigrants. The Savannah battle. We have Haitians who fought for this country and died for this country. But the reality is we were never welcomed because of our blackness , because of what we stand for , uh , the fight for freedom and liberty for all black people that impacted black enslaved people in the United States. So we clearly understand the historical aspect of it. What is difficult for us to swallow is the fact that in 2026 , we are still dealing with this extreme anti-black and anti Haitian prejudice , mostly due to that , and also want to highlight that the fact that the country conditions in Haiti right now. The peril , the insecurity , the extreme violence is partly due to US foreign policy towards Haiti. The main airport in Haiti has been closed for the past four years after the assassination of the president , Jovenel Moise. We have went into the abyss and keep in mind that right now , this airport that was the main airport has been used as a as a base for the US military in Haiti right now. So the country condition that makes it impossible for people to return to Haiti is partly due to US foreign policies towards Haiti , uh , past , present and what we continue to see.

S1: So what additional questions are you left with from this recent ruling?

S2: We are left with what is life going to be? What's going to happen to my children who were born in the US? Because obviously there is no way for them to go. There's no way for them to flee. There's no way for them to stay. And it's an extreme state of limbo. We are grappling with extreme stress trauma , which is now being seen as mental issues and extreme depression on children in their parents. We are dealing with a reality that no one , no , no , no organisational community , no human beings should have to deal with. And that is why , in addition to really trying to find ways to provide support here in San Diego and around the country , we have been working with Congress , where we passed a bill in discharge petition under the leadership of Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. But now we are in the Senate under the leadership of Ed Markey and Worchester Blunt in Delaware. And right now we really need the senators to vote yes on the district , on the petition to extend TPS for Haitians for the next three years , which is Senate Bill S 4814. And I'm I'm ashamed to say that none of our California senators have voted to support extension of TPS for for Haitians. Again , we are black immigrants. We understand that. But we have to call on our , uh , local elected officials. We have to call on Senator Padilla , on both of our California senators to urge them to immediately not only just vote in co-sign , but to take the the the case of the Haitian community as a priority for them as well.

S1: All right. And of course , um , you mentioned some resources earlier in our interview , and we will have those on our website at npr.org. I've been speaking with Carolyn Joseph. Executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. Guerlain , thank you so much for joining us today.

S2: Thank you for having me.

S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.