Local Haitian organizers and immigrants feel small relief with recent court ruling as they continue to seek reform

With the late-night court ruling last week blocking the Trump administration from ending protections for Haitian immigrants, there’s been a sigh of relief from advocates and people in the Haitian community. It’s a small sigh of relief, as the fight for those protections continues.

“We know that the fight is not over, so I have not found any strength to celebrate because I have to really pay attention to the response from the government, while at the same time trying to find other ways to protect the community. So that’s where we are right now,” Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said during a call while in Springfield, Ohio last week.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance, headquartered in San Diego, is a community organization advocating for immigration policy and addressing issues specific to Black migrant communities, providing services and resources, as well as partnering with other organizations in service of similar work. For Jozef, the daughter of Haitian parents who were activists in their community and who brought their family to the United States when she was a child, the organization started with a phone call in 2014. There were a few Haitians stranded at the U.S.-Mexico border at the time, and someone called her to see whether she could help them. She figured it would ...