A mural by Haitian-American artist Serge Toussaint on the corner of NE 2nd Ave. and 79th St. in Little Haiti. Photo by Daniela Dello Joio

The Haitian immigrant community in Miami is optimistic toward President Barack Obama but disappointed the new administration has not yet granted the long-awaited Temporary Protected Status.  TPS would allow Haitians to work in the United States legally and send money home to their families.

On a recent visit to Haiti to meet with Haitian President René Préval, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the United States will provide $287 million in aid this year to Haiti to fund the creation of jobs to build infrastructure and retire some of the country’s debt.  Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and two tropical storms swept through the Caribbean in less than a month in September 2008, destroying over 15 percent of Haiti’s GDP.

Regarding TPS, Clinton said that the new administration is looking carefully at the policy it inherited and is considering how best to help Haitians working in the United States and sending money back to their home countries.

“If we do make any changes in TPS status, it will go back to the beginning of the Obama administration,” Clinton said.  “People who were [in the United States] before President Obama became president would be eligible.  People who came after would not be.”  Secretary Clinton said no final decision has been made. 

Marlene Bastien, executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami/Haitian Women of Miami, a social advocacy program for Haitian families in Miami, said Haitians are looking to Obama to award them TPS.

 ”Justice delayed is justice denied,” Bastien said.  “President Bush denied TPS to Haitians twice despite the fact that Haiti qualifies more than any other country right now in light of the recent devastations caused by four hurricanes.”

 Clinton said that Obama has not yet granted TPS to Haitians because he and his advisors fear it will cause too many Haitians to immigrate to the United States.

 ”We don’t want to encourage other Haitians to make the dangerous journey across the water,” Clinton said.

 Bastien said the U.S. government’s assumption that TPS would cause a “mass exodus” of Haitians to the United States is “absurd.” 

 ”It makes strong economic, national security and humanitarian sense to help our closest and neediest neighbor - Haiti,” Bastien said.  “Every Haitian family that lives here supports 100 families in Haiti, so it actually makes more sense to allow them to stay here legally.”

 Jean-Robert Lafortune, chairman of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, an immigrant advocacy group founded in Miami in 1997, said it is still too early to effectively predict whether the situation for Haitians in the United States and in Haiti will improve under the Obama administration.

“For the time being, he [Obama] has not sent any signal yet that Haitians will get fair treatment relative to immigration policy,” Lafortune said, adding that Haitians in Miami still have high expectations toward this new administration.  “It can’t get worse [than] during the Bush era.”

Jean Sintjoi, a resident in the area of downtown Miami known as Little Haiti, is optimistic. 

“I hope Obama understands that we voted for him to make sure that he gives us what we need because the Haitian community needs plenty of things,” he said.  “I know, I hope and I believe he is going to do something for us.”

Professor Yves Colon at the University of Miami School of Communication said sentiment in Little Haiti is positive because plans for development in Haiti during the eight years under the Bush administration were almost nonexistent.

“The only times Haitians in Miami heard from the Bush administration was when the administration was conducting deportations or [dealing] with immigration or drugs,” Colon said.  “Any change is good. That’s how I see Haitians in Little Haiti thinking.” 

Colon said that the fact that the new president is black is also a positive factor for the Haitian community in Miami.

“Haitians think that someone with a parent who is from a minority group, someone with that kind of sensibility, will have better feeling toward them and better understand what their needs are,” he said.

Visual signs of optimism for the Obama administration are everywhere in Little Haiti.  Murals of the new president populate about 10 street corners.  The murals feature large-scale portraits of the new president with phrases like, “Yes We Can,” and “President Obama, Little Haiti Wishes You the Best.”

“If I could meet him, I would ask him to help my people,” said Serge Toussaint, a Haitian graffiti artist responsible for some of the Obama murals in the Little Haiti area.  “We need help.”