Tallahassee faith leaders are pressing Florida politicians to assist Haitian families under temporary protected status facing deportation and laid out a five-part plan encouraging voters to speak up and make immigration a campaign issue.
Bethel Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Rev. R.B. Holmes Jr. sent a letter July 7 to U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody asking them to file and support legislation that would protect the legal status of the thousands of Haitian people in Florida after the nation’s highest court ruled the administration of President Donald Trump could end removal protections for those from the island nation.
“We must open our hearts and embrace them. The Supreme Court was wrong, but Congress does not have to be wrong. Mr. Senator, Madam Senator, you will face the voters in November,” Holmes said Wednesday from inside the Tallahassee church less than a mile away from the Capitol and just outside the shadow of Florida State University.
“We need you all to pass a law that will strengthen and not terminate temporary protective status for our Haitians and other people who are just trying to come here to make a living for their families,” he said.
Holmes said Scott, a two-term governor before being elected to the Senate, had been a “pretty good” governor, adding, “He knows better, he can change his mind and do what is right.” He called Moody “a good lady” who was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Ron DeSantis and offered that this could be “her defining moment.”
Standing alongside Holmes were more than a half a dozen other pastors in Tallahassee voicing fears over the aftermath of last month’s court ruling. The decision opens 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians to deportation.
Holmes outlined his “How to Support Our Haitian Neighbors” plan that encourages the public to also write to Scott and Moody urging congressional intervention to preserve Haitian families.
And as the primary elections in Florida near, part of that five-point plan includes pressing all political candidates running in races from city hall to Congress on their positions, Holmes said.
There are several hotly contested Tallahassee City Commission races, including for mayor, and Holmes said he plans on sitting down with the candidates during a “good government Sunday” talk next month.
Florida gubernatorial hopefuls, Holmes said, should be pressed on the issue also.
Everybody else, he said, needs to do the same thing, regardless of the political race.
“This is time to stand up and tell us where you are before we vote in November. We will keep pushing them, but what we do now is trying to push the men and women of Congress who have the power to pass a law, a pathway to citizenship. We put that on the back burner for many years,” Holmes said.
READ MORE: With TPS ending, Haitian community leaders want Congress to help Haitian migrants avoid deportation
TPS then and now
Congress created temporary protected status in 1990. Since then, a country receives a TPS designation after the Homeland Security secretary consults with the State Department to determine whether it meets certain qualifying conditions. TPS designation for Haiti began in 2010 following an earthquake that killed more than 500,000 people.
A TPS designation applies if it’s too dangerous to return to the country based on violence, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. Protections can last from six to 18 months unless renewed.
The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling opined last month that Haitian and Syrian immigrants are not entitled to orders postponing an end to their temporary protection while litigation is pending, arguing those are non-constitutional claims. It means their work permits and deportation protections are stripped.
Holmes said the ruling contradicts the American experience, woven by immigrants from around the world, some seeking better fortunes and other seeking political freedom.
“Optimistic, not naive”
The Rev. Tom Holdcraft of St. Stephen Lutheran Church Tallahassee said people of faith are, “Optimistic that God sides with the marginalized, God sides with the displaced. And it’s clear that the word of God directs and expects those in power and wealth to care for the hungry, the orphaned, the widowed, the stranger, the refugee, and the incarcerated,” Holdcraft said.
He added, though: “While we are optimistic, we are not naive.” Racism, bigotry, and privilege are taking hold in the nation, he said.
“So, today we answer the clarion call to stand against, to speak against, this racism. This potential human tragedy of sending temporary protected status migrant people back to a war-torn and unsafe country is similar to sending people to death camps,” Holdcraft said.
Brant Copeland, former longtime pastor of Tallahassee’s First Presbyterian Church, voiced concern that politicians are enforcing laws that agree with their agendas but ignoring those that are “inconvenient.”
“We are welcoming, throwing our arms open to immigrants — white immigrants from South Africa. But dark-skinned immigrants from Haiti get a different treatment. We’re open to people immigrating from … Norway or Denmark, but we’re not open to people who are fleeing the horrible conditions in their country in Haiti. That concerns me,” he said.
Holmes agreed with Copeland’s assessment that laws aren’t equally enforced and that the Supreme Court ruling sent the message that “if you’re Black, get back. If you’re brown, get back. If you’re white, you’re right — you stay. But I think if you’re Black, if you’re white, if you’re brown, you all ought to stay.”
To ensure they can stay, though, the reverend said people need to weigh in.
“I repeat, a lot of good people in this country. I hope they will find their voices and speak up and make it clear this is not the American story.”
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