Haitians in diaspora
My name is Danielle, and I co-lead the Haitian Creole team at Respond Crisis Translation. I’m also the former French Team Lead, and I still work with the French Language Team at RCT.
Bonjou/Bonswa tout moun. Non pa m se Danielle, mwen se Responsab ekip Kreyòl la nan Respond. Jodi a, mwen vin pale nou de sitiyasyon Ayisyen yo ap viv an Ayiti men tou nan Etazini e kijan dènye tan sa yo ye pou kominote a.
Today I want to share about what these times are like for the community of Haitian people in diaspora–those of us who, due to difficult circumstances, are away from home.
For Haitians, leaving Haiti is the hardest thing in life. You'll always feel better at home. When I left Haiti in 2015 for Mexico where I got my Bachelor’s in Information Technology, I knew I’d be back in a few years. In 2019, I returned to Haiti, eager to use my skills. But the country I knew had completely disappeared. Political instability, generalized insecurity, gangs taking over entire cities, kidnapping, raping, prices through the roof… My country was devastated. I would hear gunshots like in movies: senseless mass assassinations.
And the job market vanished: I never got to work in my field. So, I decided to try out the world of translation. I started working with RCT in April 2021. It was a blessing: not only paid work to sustain myself, but also purpose and community. By November that same year, I was hired onto RCT’s staff.
Meanwhile, the situation in our country has worsened, forcing countless people to risk their lives crossing borders. Many die in the jungles, others get attacked and raped. Few make it to the U.S., where Temporary Protected Status has been canceled for Haitian migrants, and racist ICE raids target people due to skin color and language. Somehow, people still have hope.
What choice do we have? Many migrants have no choice but to return to Haiti. Some are trying to go to Mexico. Canada won’t let you in unless you have family there. Many are staying here. They say “lakay pi mal” meaning “Things are worse at home.” Because they have absolutely nowhere else to go.
But at RCT, we provide support, safety, dignity and refuge. We’ve helped countless individuals with free language services. We’ve built infrastructure from scratch for translators to earn a dignified living and access training and education. I know I’m not the only one in RCT who feels they got to grow into that whole new person they always deserved to be. When I look back to the person I used to be–that shy person always afraid of speaking–I feel so proud and I thank RCT for that. Our work is powerful and we deserve to be seen and heard.
The work on the Haitian Creole team at RCT has been especially intense and meaningful in recent months. We’ve always received a steady flow of cases, but recently, there’s been a clear increase in demand — particularly from Haitian migrants in the U.S. seeking asylum. They live in fear of deportation to their home country, considering the ongoing political instability in Haiti and the shift in the U.S. immigration policies.
After January 2010, when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, killing over 200,000 people and displacing more than a million people, the U.S. government designated Haiti for “Temporary Protected Status,” offering temporary legal protection to Haitians already in the United States so they would not be forced to return to an unlivable situation. This is how TPS was authorized for Haitian migrants in the US. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a temporary immigration status provided by the U.S. government to eligible nationals of designated countries experiencing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, epidemics, or other extraordinary conditions that make returning home unsafe.
