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Tuesday, January 26, 2010 (from Olivia)
Today Susan and I visited a Head Start program run by Lutheran Services Florida (LSF) in Belle Glade, near Lake Okeechobee. The small town has a significant (approximately 40 percent) Haitian population, and the region relies on agricultural migratory labor.
The program’s dynamic director gave us a tour, and then we met with a group of community leaders to hear about reactions and ongoing concerns regarding the aftermath of the earthquake. Today’s community group meeting included a city councilman, legal aid employees, Head Start employees, a couple of pastors, work readiness program employees and health care workers. Notable was the fact that more than half of those who attended were Haitians. LSF provided the meeting space as well as ongoing support to the community.
The conversation quickly turned to the extremely difficult economic situation faced by the community as a whole. The lack of adequate and affordable housing and lack of jobs are now further complicated by the recent freeze that has destroyed crops and yielded even higher than usual unemployment. One person expressed fear that Haitians fleeing the earthquake disaster would flood to the area, further exacerbating the fragile economic situation. Although most welcomed the recent announcement that temporary protected status (TPS) had been extended, they worried that those who were newly authorized to work through TPS would be unable to find employment in the area. Some wondered whether TPS might be a trap to bring undocumented people out of the shadows and make them known to immigration officials. They asked about the possibility of advocating for a more general waiver of the fees associated with applying for TPS.
As the conversation began to wind down, talk again turned to the area’s critical financial situation. We were deeply struck by comments like “Right now, here, people cannot afford to eat” and “I have been here over 20 years and have never seen it so bad.”
But the group’s hope and tenacity were also remarkable. They pulled together and began discussing ways to organize themselves to assist eligible community members to apply for TPS. They identified their need for training, listed ways they could partner with each other to make staff and space available to meet with applicants and assist with preparing the applications. Several identified themselves as notaries, and there was discussion about raising funds to assist those that could not afford the application fees. I left feeling awed and humbled by this true community spirit, real everyday heroes that are struggling themselves, but able to see a need and be ready to take action.
Susan was able to provide good information regarding training for assisting with the applications, cautions about those that would not be able to be assisted through this process, information about advocacy, and, perhaps most important, a clear message that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service cares about their situation and is listening to their needs and will bring those messages back to Washington, D.C.
Monday, January 25, 2010 (from Olivia)
Today Susan and I had the opportunity to observe the Haitian emergency processing center at the Orlando-Sanford airport.
Our hosts were Lutheran Services Florida’s (LSF) disaster response team, which has organized shifts of volunteer Haitian Creole interpreters. The interpreters are scheduled, 12 at a time, in three round-the-clock shifts to assist with the arriving evacuees.
Planeloads have been arriving from Haiti day and night with little advance notice, bringing mostly U.S. citizens or Haitians that are related to U.S. citizens back from the disaster zone. A whole section of the airport has been set aside, providing a large room to receive the arrivals. The operation is staffed by the local Red Cross, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), LSF’s volunteer interpreters, and an assortment of other service representatives such as the health department, local police, etc.
As the evacuees deplane, they are first screened by immigration officials. Those that have some form of legal status in the United States are then brought to this processing area where the Red Cross offers food, drink, a small bag of toiletries and a stuffed animal for children. They are then interviewed by representatives of DCF with the assistance of interpreters as needed and are offered assistance with determining where they plan to go, hopefully to join family in the United States. When needed, they are offered financial assistance in the form of a small loan for transportation, hotel and food.
Amazingly, this partially volunteer led process has assisted approximately 7,000 of the 12,000 evacuees that have thus far made it to the United States. Persons screened have ranged in age from one month to 106 years. Some have required immediate transportation to hospitals. Many have appeared dazed, unsure of where in the United States the plane has landed. All have been greeted courteously and have been provided basic information, services, and assistance in taking their next step in this relocation.
Much has been written about the orphans who are in the process of finalizing their adoption and are being prioritized for evacuation to the United States where they can be expeditiously placed with their prospective adoptive families. These children and those evacuees that do not have legal status are met and screened separately by immigration and other federal officials.
Children who have apparent legal status in the United States and are arriving with family members or other escorts are screened by DCF child protection investigators who inquire as to the relationship between the adult and the child and record identifying information. This is an extra protective step designed to help determine whether the child is traveling with a related or safe adult.
On this day a plane carrying 76 evacuees landed with all but one having some sort of legal status. I saw at least three very young children being escorted by what were probably elderly relatives, perhaps grandparents, and observed one DCF interviewer copying information from the little child’s U.S. passport and his relative’s Haitian passport. He was being brought here to reunite with his mother in another state. I can only hope that there will be some follow-up in that state to determine that they have indeed been reunited.
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