Immigration

Did you know that Haitians and Haitian-Americans represent the second largest black immigrant group living in the United States today?

Center for American Progress estimated that there are 3.7 million black immigrants currently in the United States. With the number of Haitians living in the US estimated at 676,000, we are only second to Jamaicans whom their number is estimated at 693,000. We may well surpass the Jamaicans if you want to take in consideration the Haitians living without legal documentation.

- 48 percent of all black immigrants come from the Caribbean,
- 43 percent come from African countries,
- 3.6 percent come from South America.

In 2015, there were about 676,000 Haitian immigrants in the United States. It was a significant rise from the 2010 figure of 587,000. Haitians account for nearly 2% of the U.S. foreign-born population. Out of the total 3.7 million immigrants in the U.S, 8.8% of the immigrant population are black. They come from a diverse group of countries, primarily in the Caribbean, Latin America-- 48% of them come from the Caribbean, 43% of African countries, and 3.6% from South America. Recent statistics show that the largest individual home countries of black immigrants in the United States today are Jamaica (693,000), Haiti (668,223), Nigeria (306,874), Ethiopia (244,924), and Trinidad and Tobago (242,661). In 2015, there were 619,000 unauthorized black immigrants living in the U.S. As per Centre for American Progress Report, about 29% of the black immigrants aged 25 and older hold a bachelor's or advanced degree, similar to the rate for all immigrants (30%) and overall U.S. population. Black immigrants from Africa are more likely than Americans overall to have a college degree or higher.

It is important to note that there were no numbers of Haitian immigrants before 1932 because then Haitians were the classified as Caribbean immigrants. Haitians started immigrating to the United States in the early 1800s, but did not receive much attention until the 1950s and early 1960s when Haitian immigration to the U.S. began to increase visibly. While just 5,000 Haitians lived in the United States in 1960, beginning in December 1972, a stream of Haitian "boat people" fled the brutal Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti for the United States. In May 1981, U.S. immigration officials began detaining all undocumented Haitians without the possibility of bond.

During 1950s and 1960s, the migrated Haitians were professional and highly-skilled workers, the Haitian educational and economic elite that were exiled by Duvalier. In the mid 1970s, Haitian immigrants were lower-middle class (known as boat people). Like many Latino groups of immigrants, Haitian immigrants initially intended to return to their homeland, but cannot because of unstable political and poor economic reasons.

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Here is a picture of an immigrant child that appeared with audio recording in June 2018. This picture appeared to capture the voices of small Spanish-speaking children is crying out for her parents at a US immigration facility. This image had become a symbol of family separation by the Trump Administration.

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Here is a picture of several thousands of Haitians and Africans immigrants waiting to cross US/Mexico border in Tijuana.

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US Department of Homeland Security resumed the deportation of Haitians who have been convicted of crimes in the US. As you may remember the Deportation of Haitians were suspended following the Haiti earthquake. Before the Deportation was suspended, a total of 375 Haitians were deported, including 125 criminals. The fiscal year for the Department of Homeland Security starts on October 1 and ends September 30

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May 26, 2016, the day Little Haiti is officially put on the Map as a Neighborhood in Miami. With resolution sponsored by Commissioner Keon Hardamon, all the commissioners of City of Miami voted in favor of the resolution.

Little Haiti is the cultural heart for the Haitian Diaspora in the Miami neighborhood. So far there was no true definition of Little Haiti as it was very much subjective without any formal boundary-- an area broadly defined by the city as running from 38th Street to 79th Street between Interstate 95 and the Florida East Coast Railway, although the maps and official city registries use to acknowledge it to be much smaller with southern and northern borders as 54th and 82nd streets. Recently, on Thursday, May 26, 2016, , the Miami-Dade Municipal Commission unanimously voted in favor of designating 'Lemon City' as 'Little Haiti'. 'Little Haiti' will have the boundaries roughly between 54th Street and 79th Street, and Northwest Sixth Avenue and Northeast Second Avenue. The announcement came after a long sixteen years' demand and this victory was almost impossible without the effort of four former district commissioners. It was a sixteen year old argument over the idea of an official 'Little Haiti' and exactly, where its boundaries should be drawn.

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We have learned that Haitian migrants have been attempting to enter Europe, posing as Somalis

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New US Visas and scholarships scam targeting Haitians. On February 22, 2016, a note of caution has been issued by the US Embassy in Haiti alerting the Haitian people who are seeking U.S visa or intend to apply for U.S scholarship over the internet. A group of racketeers using Sophia Martelly's name, is falsely claiming that they can arrange both. They are using the following email addresses: (i) ambassadeamericaine.haiti@yahoo.com; (ii) unmaria51@gmail.com, with a point of contact named Samuel at +509-3990-6218 and an accountant named Evelia Jean Charles. The note issued advises people to stay away from these racketeers and every aspiring individual must know that the US Embassy never authorize any person or group to arrange US visa or scholarship. The only way to get them is through a direct contact and application to the US Embassy.

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Taking into consideration the ongoing problem with falsification of visas, passports and travel documents by many Haitian citizens, the United States and Haiti agree to form a mission to deal with the problem.

Haiti and U.S. Band Together to Fight Travel ID Scams

In an effort to combat counterfeit visas, passports, and other travel IDs, Haitian Justice Minister, Pierre-Richard Casimir, and U.S. Embassy in Haiti Charge d'Affaires, Brian Shukan, joined forces to take preventive action and also investigate such crimes impacting both nations.

Haitians, victims of travel ID scams, whose cases will be heard by Ministry authorities, will help in the prosecution of scammers falsely claiming they are U.S. Consulate representatives.

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From the turn of the century until around 2014, Human trafficking organizers from India found an opportunity in Haiti. A major Human trafficking ring was evolving between Delhi, India and Haiti where people would arrange fake documents, with the help of the passengers to reach Haiti. After living there for about a month, they would leave Haiti to either Cuba or the Bahamas until they reach Miami and Florida.

United States Embassy worked closely with the Indian government to fight human trafficking and stop that particular route in human trafficking and illegal immigration. Until 2014, the route between Delhi, India and Haiti was the most-preferred route for human traffickers as it was less time-consuming. US officials

Foreign affairs experts are now suspecting new routes for Indians to reach the US. There is a San Salvador-Havana-Mexico route. An official of an airline who did not want to be identified said that a more direct route was via London, Amsterdam to Miami.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

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What is your opinion on this? Do you think birthright citizenship in the United States should be eliminated?

"Birthright" establishes a principle of equality that dates back to the very creation of U.S democracies. Donald Trump has recently proposed to end birthright citizenship. He has argued that granting automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. The United States confers citizenship by what's referred as "jus soli" -- Latin for right of soil -- as opposed to "jus sanguinis" -- Latin for right of blood. The supporters of Trump are arguing that immigrants are taking advantage of this practice by giving birth to "anchor babies" -- children who could eventually help their parents get citizenship. While others argue that it's a time honored American practice that should endure. Donald's proposal requires a constitutional amendment with a two thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate, followed by ratification of three-fourths of the states or a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures-- which have a very thin chance of success.

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