Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
DHS refuses to renew TPS for earthquake victims.
(AllHipHop News) Donald Trump’s administration announced it will not be renewing the Temporary Protected Status that gave almost 60,000 Haitian nationals provisional legal residency in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security pronounced the disastrous conditions on the island caused by a 2010 earthquake “no longer exist.”
The Haitians must now leave the U.S. by July 22, 2019. Officials in Haiti claim the country still has not recovered from the devastating earthquake enough to take in the returning citizens. In addition, the nation was since hit by Hurricane Matthew as well as a cholera epidemic.
Billboard spoke with Wyclef Jean, a musician of Haitian descent. The former Fugees member took issue with Trump’s decision to force people to self-deport back to Haiti.
“I’m definitely gonna say one thing, which I stand by: The country of Haiti right now, we cannot afford to take 50,000 Haitians to go back home right now,” said Wyclef. “It’s almost like you’re sending them back like, ‘Oh, OK, the earthquake is gone.’ You’re sending people back like, ‘OK, let me [send them] back on a starve mission.’ It’s like you’re sending them back to die. We don’t support that.”
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump told Haitians in Florida, “Whether you vote for me or not I really want to be your biggest champion.” The swing state’s 29 electoral votes were very valuable for the Republican candidate. Trump won Florida over Hillary Clinton by a mere 1.2% margin.
“I think we all need to acknowledge the TPS thing and the promise that Donald Trump made,” added Wyclef. “If you remember, he was like, ‘I’m going to look out for Haiti. I’m going to look out for [Miami’s] Little Haiti [neighborhood].’ He did the whole movie. So the lookout that we need right now, we need to make sure our people do not get deported back. It’s not going to look good for the island at all.”