Protest on St. Paul/Mpls bridge demands: Stop Trump’s attacks on Haitian immigrants! TPS now!

St. Paul, MN – Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) responded to the Legalization for All Network’s call to protest against Trump’s racist attacks on Haitian immigrants. Dozens of protesters gathered on the Marshall Avenue/Lake Street bridge at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 5 to stand with the Haitian community against Trump’s latest racist anti- immigrant attack.

In Ohio, Hattian immigrants are being summoned by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and are being forced to wear ankle monitors until their deportation hearing – or be deported immediately.

On June 25, the Trump administration terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which provides work authorization, travel permission and protection from deportation for Haitian and Syrian immigrants. This came after a far-right ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court (Mullin v. Doe), where six of the nine judges voted to allow Trump to terminate this status for the two immigrant communities.

Within a day, 300,000 Haitian and Syrian immigrants became undocumented and at risk for deportation.

Protesters held signs that read “We say no to Trump’s mass deportation of Haitian immigrants! End U.S. intervention in Haiti!” and waved as passing drivers honked, bikers rang their bells, and a runner clapped on her run in support.

The rally ended with a brief program where the crowd heard from Mira Altobell-Resendez, an organizer with MIRAC, told the crowd, “This most recent rug-pull, taking TPS away from workers and families who have been in the U.S. for years, has already resulted in thousands of Haitians in Ohio being put into deportation proceedings and forced to wear inhumane ankle monitors.”

Altobell-Resendez continued, “There is not a single person who benefits from mass deportations like these, or what took place in the Twin Cities during Metro Surge, except for the same people who always make money from human suffering: the white supremacist ruling class!” They ended with calling on Governor Tim Walz to “spend his last months in office fighting tooth and nail to create ICE-free zones and ban collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement.”

WAMM holds a vigil on the Marshall/Lake bridge every Wednesday and this week’s action was co-hosted with the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC).

#StPaulMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #Haiti #TPS #ICE