NAACP sues Homeland Security over Haiti immigration policy

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind the Temporary Protective Status (TPS) designation for Haitian immigrants discriminates against immigrants of color, in violation of the Fifth Amendment, according to a new lawsuit filed today on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

The lawsuit claims that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), former Acting DHS Secretary Elaine C. Duke, and current DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielson took irrational and discriminatory government action, denying Haitian immigrants their right to due process and equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.  The NAACP, acting on behalf of its Haitian members who are TPS protected, argues that DHS intended to discriminate against Haitian immigrants living in the United States because of their race and national origin.

“This is a simple case. Our democracy rests on the bedrock principle that every person is equal before the law. Governmental decisions that target people based on racial discrimination violate our Constitution,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. “The decision by the Department of Homeland Security to rescind TPS status for Haitian immigrants was infected by racial discrimination. Every step taken by the Department to reach this decision reveals that far from a rational and fact-based determination, this decision was driven by calculated, determined and intentional discrimination against Haitian immigrants.”

“The action by the Department of Homeland Security to rescind TPS status for Haitian immigrants is clearly racially motivated,” said Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO. “The U.S. Constitution prohibits singling out certain immigrants for harsh treatment based on their skin color and/or ethnicity.  But more than that, basic fairness militates against this draconian action taken by DHS under the direction of President Trump.”

The lawsuit seeks to enjoin DHS’s November 2017 decision to rescind Temporary Protective Status for Haitian immigrants, as it reflects “an egregious departure from the TPS statute’s requirements and the intent to discriminate on the basis of race.” The lawsuit also asks the Court to declare that DHS violated the United States Constitution and the rule of law in rescinding the Haitian TPS, and to declare the action void and without legal force.

As evidence of the intent to discriminate, the lawsuit cites public reporting that DHS sought crime data on Haitians with TPS, as well as information on how many Haitian nationals were receiving public benefits. The lawsuit alleges that the Department’s efforts to gather this specific data on Haitian TPS designees “trades on false anti-Black stereotypes about criminality and exploitation of public benefits, and suggests the effort to manufacture a public safety rationale for the planned rescission.”

The complaint further alleges that President Trump’s public hostility toward immigrants of color was a contributing factor in the decision to rescind Haitian TPS. For example, in a recently reported White House meeting with several U.S. Senators, Trump disparaged a draft immigration plan that protected people from Haiti, El Salvador and some African countries, and noted his preference for immigrants from mostly white European countries.  Earlier in 2017, the President suggested that Haitians “all have AIDS,” upon learning that 15,000 Haitians had received visas to enter the United States. He reportedly asked, “Why do we need more Haitians?”

“It’s disheartening to see the Haitian community targeted and mistreated in this way, but it also is not surprising,” said Raymond Audain, Senior Counsel at LDF. “This decision reflects a shameful and persistent pattern of conduct by this Administration in which racial stereotypes drive policy decisions.”

Haitian immigrants first received Temporary Protective Status in 2010 as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to assist the country after it was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. Haiti’s TPS designations have been extended multiple times due to many factors, including multiple hurricanes and a cholera outbreak. On November 20, 2017, the DHS announced its plans to terminate temporary protective status for Haiti, which would go into effect in May 2019, ignoring bipartisan pleas to extend TPS designation for Haitian immigrants.

“Our great nation fought a civil war to establish the bedrock principle that the government may not discriminate against any person, whether citizen or non-citizen, based on that person’s race or ethnicity.  The NAACP stands ready to challenge any violation of that principle, as today’s action clearly demonstrates,” said Bradford M. Berry, General Counsel of the NAACP.

The full complaint can be read here.

Get Out receives four Academy Award nominations

Jordan Peele's horror film Get Out, which has received praise for its performances and thought-provoking take on race in America, received four Academy Award nominations Tuesday, including one for best picture.

Peele made history becoming the first black director to receive nominations in the writing, directing, and producing categories for his first feature film.

Peele tweeted his gratitude to the fans that made the movie both a critical and commercial success:

Right now I’m just thinking about everyone who bought a ticket and told someone else to. You did this. Thank you. ✊🏾

— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) January 23, 2018

Get Out was nominated for:

Best Picture

Directing: Jordan Peele

Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Kaluuya

Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele

Virginia Lt. governor protest honoring Confederate general

Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, the second African-American to serve in that role, stepped off the dais where he presides over the state Senate on Monday when Republicans moved to adjourn in memory of Confederate Gen. Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson.

“It’s a personal decision for me,” Fairfax said afterward. “There are people in Virginia history that I think it’s appropriate to memorialize and remember in that way, and others that I would have a difference of opinion on.”

Fairfax was going to do the same last Friday after learning about plans honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, whose birthday is a state holiday. In the mid-1980s, Virginia began marking Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday the same as Lee-Jackson-King Day. In 2000, Gov. Jim Gilmore called for separating them.

Fairfax said that when he was sworn into the statewide office on Jan. 13, he kept in his pocket a reproduction of a document freeing members of the Fairfax family in Virginia from slavery in 1798.

“I felt … in honor of my family and in honor of the journey that Virginia has taken and so many others have taken for progress, that I would prefer not to preside over those adjournment motions.”

Kamala Harris: Why she voted against ending government shutdown

U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement today on her vote against the motion to invoke cloture on the stopgap spending bill:

“Our government made a promise to our Dreamers and it is long past time that we kept that promise. These are young people who are Americans in every respect except on paper. They have been waiting far too long to live securely in the only place they have ever called home.

“The Majority Leader’s comments last night fell far short of the ironclad guarantee I needed to support a stopgap spending bill. I refuse to put the lives of nearly 700,000 young people in the hands of someone who has repeatedly gone back on his word. I will do everything in my power to continue to protect Dreamers from deportation.

“It is also time that we stop governing from crisis to crisis and ensure that priorities critical to Californians are funded for the future. I will continue to work with my colleagues to find a long-term solution that supports members of our military and national security priorities, funds children’s health insurance and community health centers, provides resources for those recovering from disasters like the California wildfires, and guarantees a future for young immigrants who are as American as all of us.”

Lowe's donates $500,000 to Historically Black Colleges and Universities

In recognition of the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday, Lowe’s has donated $500,000 to UNCF’s 37 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to award emergency student aid to graduating seniors who need financial support. UNCF’s Emergency Student Aid (ESA) is a lifeline for UNCF-supported HBCU students with unanticipated needs or special circumstances such as the loss of a parent’s job. Nearly 240 seniors received aid during the 2016-17 academic year, allowing them to stay in school and on track to graduate.

“This gift given at this time is a fitting tribute to the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, UNCF president and CEO. “For more than 30 years, Lowe’s has been a vital partner in UNCF’s continuing mission to increase post-secondary access and success for students attending its member schools who need critical funding to earn their degrees. We want to say ‘thank you’ to Lowe’s for its substantial investment in better futures for students across the United States.”

Since 2009, Lowe’s has partnered with UNCF’s emergency student aid program to provide $4.7 million in just-in-time aid. Thanks to Lowe’s long-term commitment to increasing post-secondary success for students at UNCF member schools, more than 1,700 students have been able to graduate on time. A UNCF partner since 1985, Lowe’s has donated more than $5 million to UNCF over the past three decades.

“Lowe’s commitment to improving communities begins by supporting organizations that give students the resources to become tomorrow’s business and community leaders,” said James Frison, Director of Community Relations. “By supporting organizations like UNCF, Lowe’s is contributing to a cause that is important to our customers and employees and invests in helping students achieve their fullest potential by completing their college degrees.”

UNCF, the nation’s largest and most effective minority education assistance organization, launched ESA in 2009 to help recession-impacted students at risk of having to interrupt their studies and delay their degrees due to unpaid tuition balances, textbooks and room and board fees. In supporting UNCF’s ESA, Lowe’s offered support in a major way again this academic year to help students walk across the finish line. Since 2009, more than $27 million has been raised and disbursed to UNCF-supported students attending UNCF-member HBCUs.To donate to UNCF’s Emergency Student Aid, visit UNCF.org/ESA.