On October 4, the people of Haiti braced themselves against devastating winds and rain from Hurricane Matthew. There are news reports of wrecked homes and "catastrophic destruction."
Just days earlier, the U.S. government announced that it will resume deporting undocumented Haitians.
This ends a six-year moratorium put in place after the absolutely devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010.
Haiti is in no condition to receive deportees.
The abrupt change in policy is a shock to Haitians who are still struggling to recover from the earthquake. Tens of thousands have migrated across the Americas in search of safe homes, work, and a place to raise a family. Maryknoll missioners have encountered Haitian migrants living in the shadows in Brazil and along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Click HERE to ask Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to re-instate Temporary Humanitarian Parole for Haitians.
“The earthquake that hit Haiti was the worst thing to happen," Hermano, a migrant from Haiti now living in Brazil, said in an interview with Maryknoll Lay Missioner Greg Fischer. "You cannot escape, you cannot do anything, the magnitude of it was over our heads and we couldn’t prevent it. When the earthquake happened, everyone thought it was the end of the world. . . We had nothing."
(You can read more stories like Hermano's at "Rostos da Migração / Faces of Migration" Greg Fischer's online photo and video journal of refugees and migrants in Brazil.)
Please take action for our Haitian brothers and sisters today.