Little Haiti is not the same.
The vibrant neighborhood in central Brooklyn, New York, is a shell of what itself as fears of deportation have sent communities like it into hiding.
“It’s quiet,” Ruth Jean-Marie said while reflecting on walking the streets of Little Haiti. “Normally you would hear music, you would hear conversations. And you don't see that anymore. People are scared.”
President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has now expanded to target many who entered the country legally through a program known as temporary protected status, also known as TPS. The program includes more than 500,000 Haitian immigrants in the U.S.
Before the Trump administration announced an end to TPS for Haiti in February, immigration enforcement operations had already put Little Haiti in limbo.
Since the start of President Trump’s second term, Immigration Customs and Enforcement arrests have doubled, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Dozens of arrests took place in Chicago and New York within President Trump’s first month in office.
RELATED STORY | Truth Be Told: How Trump's immigration crackdown compares to past efforts
Veronica Cardenas, a former lawyer for ICE, who now represents immigrants, says past administrations have consistently prioritized detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants who have been accused, charged or convicted of a crime.
“But now with this administration, they're using the same techniques – the same detention process for criminals and for people who have been arrested – onto families,” Cardenas said.
Cardenas said operations targeting immigrant communities mean those with legal status and even U.S. citizenship get swept into raids, expanding fear to people who aren’t undocumented.
“What this administration has been doing, it's been instilling fear by doing raids, going into the community, going to churches, going to schools. Doing things like that so that people feel that no matter where they are, they should be scared,” Cardenas said.
While Jean-Marie does not know of any recent immigration enforcement operations in Little Haiti, she says the fear of deportation is keeping people off the streets.
“That anxiety is not only interacting with how they interact with their communities. The fact that now business is down, they're not buying from other Haitian business owners. They're not contributing as much to the economy as they did before, just in preparation of whether they might be deported or they have to support a family member who's deported,” Jean-Marie said.
RELATED STORY | Nearly 200 Venezuelans migrants are flown home from Guantanamo Bay, with layover in Honduras
Both Jean-Marie and Cardenas said while immigrant neighborhoods like Little Haiti offer a sense of community and safety, they also make for easy targets for raids.
“It's called Little Haiti. We're basically saying, ‘Here we all are. Here's where you get your food. Here's where you educate your children. Here's where you speak to your God.’ And it will 100% be targeted because it's the easiest,” Jean-Marie said. “But then what else do we do? Go into hiding.”
"And so, what I've been instructing my clients is if you don't know someone who's coming up to talk to you, do not respond,” Cardenas said. “But that's creating so much seclusion, which I think heightens fear at that point.”
With the Trump administration canceling the extension for temporary protected status for Haitians, an estimated 520,000 Haitians who are in the U.S. under the program will immediately lose legal status as of August 3.
New York Congresswoman Laura Gillen said in a statement that the decision to end TPS for Haiti equates to “sentencing some of our neighbors who contribute to our economy to what may be tantamount to a death sentence due to the ongoing gang violence and political turmoil in Haiti.”
TPS is granted to people in the U.S. who cannot safely return to their countries. Haitian immigrants in the U.S. with TPS left Haiti seeking humanitarian relief from natural disasters, political and ongoing economic instability and a worsening crisis of violence.
A group of Venezuelan TPS holders and advocacy groups are suing the Trump administration. Immigration attorneys told Scripps News they expect the same to happen over the end of TPS for Haitians. The suits, they said, could buy TPS holders a little more time if there are injunctions.
But Cardenas said it’s best for immigrants with “shaky” status to start planning now.
"Going and getting legal advice as to other avenues to stay here and be protected is a person's best option. Instead of sitting in that fear and wondering whether or not it's going to happen. Be prepared,” she said.
Many TPS holders, including immigrants from Haiti, Venezuela and Ukraine, have deep ties to their communities and contribute to local economies, according to immigration advocacy group, FWD.us.
Given the state of Haiti, Jean Charles says for many Haitian immigrants with TPS there is no alternative to staying in the US.
“Little Haiti is our home,” she said.
