SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Through tears, Sunny Isles Beach Holocaust survivor Anna Fischbein told The Associated Press how much she will miss the Haitian health aide who worked with her every week for the past 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t deserve this,\u201d Fischbein, 87, said. \u201cShe is so giving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fischbein said she lost more than someone who worked for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost, not a lady working for me, I lost a friend,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if this is enough to describe why I did not sleep all night today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miriam Singer, the CEO of Jewish Community Services of South Florida, said the agency had to terminate Fischbein\u2019s aide and 17 others when their work permits expired after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the path for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo here is another level of trauma for a group of individuals that have already experienced horrific trauma in their lives and horrific loss,\u201d Singer said. \u201cHere is another separation from the person that they trust to care for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singer said two areas of work at Jewish Community Services included team members who were Haitian nationals with TPS, including home care services, \u201cmostly serving Holocaust survivors and some other seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also stripped from Haitians who were in the U.S. on TPS: deportation protections.<\/p>\n
Attorney Lourna Rosembert-Joseph said immigration authorities can now enforce the fact that people no longer have protection.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo let\u2019s say ICE has a raid and they are looking for individuals, can they deport anyone that they arrest? Yes,\u201d Rosembert-Joseph said. \u201cCan they arrest you? They can. Because technically you don\u2019t have a status inside the United States as of now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonie Hermantin, director of special projects at Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, said conditions have not improved in Haiti.<\/p>\n
\u201cTemporary is attached to the country condition,\u201d Hermantin said. \u201cBut it is clear that in the past 10 years we have seen that, particularly in the case of Haiti, things have gotten worse \u2014 gang violence \u2014 making it unsafe to return.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cTo say that it is temporary, fine, if the situation ends. But in the case of Haiti, it had not ended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fearing their safety if deported to gang-riddled Haiti, some TPS Haiti advocates have told Local 10 News that families are considering a move to Canada.<\/p>\n
The Canada Border Services Agency told World News that, as of July 26, the most asylum claimants being processed at land border ports of entry this year are from Haiti, followed by the United States.<\/p>\n
Julia Sande, an Amnesty International Canada lawyer who specializes in refugee and migrant rights, said anyone considering a move to Canada should know there are legal mechanisms that can make that move difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S., unless you qualify for one of the limited exceptions \u2014 for example, you\u2019re an unaccompanied minor or you have a close family member in Canada \u2014 Canada says that the United States is a safe third country and will send you back to the United States and tell you to make your claim there,\u201d Sande said.<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cThey won\u2019t consider your refugee claim in Canada. So the only way, really, to get around the agreement, unless you qualify for one of those limited exceptions, is to cross in between a port of entry and make a claim for refugee protection after 14 days.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she said that still leaves Haitian asylum seekers in a difficult position.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is that for Haitian asylum seekers, if you\u2019ve crossed in that way \u2014 or if anyone crosses in that way \u2014 their claim is deemed ineligible to be referred to the Refugee Protection Division, the administrative body that hears claims in Canada,\u201d Sande said. \u201cSo while Canada won\u2019t send you back to the States, your claim becomes ineligible.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Haiti is on the list of countries that Canada does not deport to, and so, while that\u2019s a good thing, you would not be facing deportation to Haiti.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sande said people can become stuck in \u201clegal limbo\u201d with no real pathway to regularize their status, which can make it \u201cdifficult to reunite with family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re outside of the Safe Third Country Agreement if they have a close family member in Canada,\u201d she said. \u201cThey won\u2019t be sent back to the United States. But Canada is not going to hear their claim and because they\u2019re not actively facing deportation, they don\u2019t have that final sort of avenue to regularize their status.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sande said Amnesty International is currently challenging the Safe Third Country Agreement in Canadian court.<\/p>\n
She said Canada\u2019s Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the constitutionality of the agreement depended on the existence of \u201csafety valves\u201d being available at the border for people who could face a \u201creal risk of unfair detention if they\u2019re sent back to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada has failed to make any sort of safety valve available at the border, and so we launched our newest challenge to the Safe Third Country Agreement,\u201d Sande said.<\/p>\n
Sande said Amnesty International\u2019s position has been that the agreement is unconstitutional and that Canada should withdraw from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the Trump administration\u2019s dismantling of the asylum system, the mass detention and deportation agenda, it\u2019s abundantly clear that the United States is not safe for asylum seekers, and that Canada cannot be relying on the United States to discharge its legal obligations,\u201d Sande said.<\/p>\n