MIAMI (970 WFLA) -- Haitian migrants who are in the U.S. because of the protected status granted after the 2010 earthquake, are reacting to President Trump's decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some 60,000 Haitians in 2019. About 20,000 of them live in the Miami area.
Lys Isma, who has had TPS since 15 and is studying at Florida International University in Miami, says she has lived in the U.S. since she was nine months old, and didn't even know she was a migrant until she was told recently. "People are going to have to sell their homes, and mothers are going to find... where to leave their children," Isma said.
Isma said she's disappointed but not shocked. "The system has failed us... but there's opportunity to make things better." She hopes that a version of the DREAM Act will eventually pass, as she would likely be eligible for DACA-style protections.
She insists that there's a "human right" to migrate across national borders. "Migration is a fundamental human right, and people have the right to food and water and safe communities just by being born... where you live shouldn't determine IF you live... these are rights that we are OWED... and these are rights that we should not be begging for... and we are going to be fighting for every single right that we have."
Florida's two U.S. senators, Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson, have opposed getting rid of TPS for Haitians. Nelson and House Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen say Haiti, even years after the quake, isn't ready to absorb 60,000 returning citizens.