Grand Rapids demands ‘Stop the mass deportation of Haitians!’
Grand Rapids, MI – On the afternoon of Sunday, August 23, community members gathered in Richmond Park to express solidarity with Haitian immigrants. They condemned the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies, focusing on the recent removal of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for 350,000 Haitian immigrants.
More than two dozen demonstrators attended the rally called by the Grand Rapids Coalition Against Trump. Protesters joined together in a spirited chorus of chants and drumming. They waved Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) placards reading, “Stop the mass deportation of Haitians.” The rally drew the support of passersby and the interest of neighborhood residents, some who emerged from their homes to listen to speakers,
Former Kent County Commissioner Ivan Diaz highlighted Haiti’s struggle against U.S. intervention, saying, “That revolution, its consequences for the world, and our country’s response to that revolution, have been ongoing for hundreds of years. It has brought us to the moment in history that we are in today, where that U.S. oppression has made it so that the people who are still in Haiti have to struggle each and every day just to get their basic necessities.”
Lukas Forester, with Grand Rapids Opponents of War, said, “Aggression here at home begins with aggression abroad.” Forester detailed the history of worker exploitation, economic sanctions, gunboat diplomacy, and military interventions to which the U.S. government has long subjected the Haitian people.
“These latest measures are simply a continuation of a long, concerted effort to treat Haiti as if it is a playground for Western interests,” said Sam Tunningley of the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression.
Tunningley continued, “The move to end TPS is yet another example of the Trump administration and ICE appealing to the basest and most backwards tribalism in U.S. society. They need an enemy, whether it be immigrants, activists or some ‘other’ they can target, anything to distract from their own failures.”
Mario Pierre, founder of Union in Action for Haiti, expressed dismay over the removal of protections. He explained how the threat of deportation impairs people’s ability to work safely and to support themselves, ultimately jeopardizing the wellbeing of the entire country.
Pierre said, “The president says he is going to make the country great again? It is not great again, but the country is poor, not rich.”
Trump and ICE are leveling attack after attack on immigrant rights. This most recent racist campaign, attacking Haitians, is part of the ongoing repression by ICE. Grand Rapids organizers are resolved to resist, chanting, “When immigrants are under attack. What do we do? Stand up and fight back!”