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Ending Haitians TPS Send Shock Waves Through the Community

NEW YORK CARIB NEWS — The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians has caused significant concern within the Haitian and wider Caribbean-American communities. This action comes despite Haiti still facing ongoing political instability, economic hardship, and widespread gang violence. TPS was initially granted as a humanitarian measure, acknowledging

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4 months ago

July 2, 2026

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The Supreme Court’s decision allowing the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians has sent shockwaves through the Haitian community and throughout the wider Caribbean-American community. It is a decision of immense harshness, profound moral failure, and devastating human consequence.

Haitians came to this country from a nation that has endured earthquakes, political instability, economic hardship, and, now, overwhelming gang violence. TPS was not a gift. It was a humanitarian recognition that Haiti was not in a condition to safely receive people forced to return. It was a temporary protection granted so that families could rebuild their lives, work legally, care for their children, and avoid being sent back into danger.

That danger has not disappeared. Haiti remains unstable. Gang violence continues to tear communities apart. Families live with fear, insecurity, and displacement. To return people to such conditions is not merely bad policy. It is an act that runs against the basic principles of humanity.

The United States does not come to Haiti’s crisis with clean hands. Haiti’s instability is tied, in large part, to decades of outside interference, including policies and actions by the United States that have affected Haiti’s political and economic development. Haitian immigrants are therefore not strangers who arrived without context. They are people whose homeland has long been shaped by forces beyond their control, and they now face punishment for conditions they did not create.

The Supreme Court’s decision is especially troubling because it strips protection from people who have contributed significantly to this country. Haitians under TPS have worked, paid taxes, raised families, started businesses, bought homes, attended schools, and strengthened communities. They are present in health care, construction, factories, transportation, education, hospitality, and many other essential sectors of the economy. Many are professionals. Many are students. Many are parents of American-born children. Many have lived here for years, building lives with dignity and responsibility.

Their contribution is measurable not only in dollars but in service, sacrifice, and community stability. Haitians have paid taxes, contributed to local economies, filled jobs that keep communities functioning, and sent remittances back home that serve as a lifeline to relatives and friends in Haiti. Those remittances help feed families, keep children in school, support medical care, and sustain communities under extraordinary stress.

To remove TPS now helps no one. It is bad for the country. It is bad for the economy. It is bad for the healthcare system. It is bad for employers who rely on Haitian workers. It is bad for schools, churches, neighborhoods, and families. And it is devastating for Haitian men, women, and children whose lives are now thrown into fear and uncertainty.

This decision threatens family separation, community trauma, and economic disruption. It tells people who have obeyed the law, worked openly, and contributed faithfully that their lives can be uprooted by political calculation. It tells children that their parents may be taken from them. It tells employers that dependable workers may suddenly disappear from the workplace. It tells communities that neighbors who have lived peacefully among us may be forced into danger.

Haitians are our neighbors. They are our co-workers. They are our church members, caregivers, nurses, drivers, builders, teachers, students, business owners, and friends. We rely on them. We live with them. We have seen their resilience, their faith, their work ethic, and their commitment to family and community.

The hostility directed toward Haitian immigrants cannot be separated from the racialized language and political attacks that have been aimed at them. When a vulnerable Black immigrant community is repeatedly demonized, stereotyped, and targeted, we must call it what it is. This is not simply immigration enforcement. It is a policy shaped by cruelty and received by many as racism in full view.

CARIB News believes that this decision is immoral, indecent, and dangerous. It violates the spirit of humanitarian protection. It ignores the reality on the ground in Haiti. It disregards the contributions of Haitians in America. And it betrays the values that this country claims to represent.

The United States should not send people back to a nation where violence is rampant, and survival itself is uncertain. Nor should it cut off the very lifeline that Haitians in the diaspora provide to Haiti. Deporting TPS holders will not stabilize Haiti. It will weaken families, reduce remittances, deepen suffering, and remove one of the few sources of support that many Haitian communities still depend upon.

At this moment, Congress, governors, mayors, faith leaders, civil rights organizations, immigrant advocates, business leaders, and all people of conscience must speak clearly. The administration should reverse course. Congress should act to provide permanent protection and a pathway to legal stability for Haitian TPS holders. States and cities must protect families from unnecessary harm. Employers must stand up for workers who have helped build their businesses. And the Caribbean-American community must be united in defense of our Haitian brothers and sisters.

Haiti has suffered enough. Haitian immigrants have contributed enough to deserve dignity, fairness, and protection. The answer to the crisis cannot be cruelty. The answer to instability cannot be deportation into danger. The answer to people who have worked, built, prayed, studied, cared, and contributed cannot be rejection.

CARIB News has always stood with the people of Haiti and with the wider Caribbean community in the struggle for justice, dignity, democracy, and human rights. We stand with Haitian TPS holders now. We call on this nation to do what is right, what is humane, and what is in its own best interest: protect Haitian families, preserve TPS, and recognize the extraordinary contribution Haitians continue to make to America.

Based on reporting by New York Carib News.

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Community

Mayor Barbara Lee Holds Special State of the City Address in Deep East Oakland

In partnership with Rise East and the 40×40 Council, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee held a special 2026 State of the City East Oakland community conversation on Oct. 14. The purpose of bringing a State of the City address directly to the community was to celebrate East Oakland, highli

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2 days ago

October 19, 2026

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Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, left. moderated a community chat with (l.to r.) Selena Wilson, CEO of the East Oakland Youth Development Center; Carolyn “CJ” Johnson, CEO of the Black Cultural Zone; Dr. Noha Aboelata, CEO of Roots Health Center and Greg Hodge, CEO of the Brotherhood of Elders.

By Special to The Post

In partnership with Rise East and the 40×40 Council, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee held a special 2026 State of the City East Oakland community conversation on Oct. 14.

The purpose of bringing a State of the City address directly to the community was to celebrate East Oakland, highlight the work underway, and look ahead to what neighbors, local businesses, youth, funders, community organizations, and partners can accomplish together.

Held at the Roots Community Health/Parker Elementary School Campus at 7929 Ney Ave., the event was emceed by special guest Mark Curry, Oakland native, comedian, and actor.

Lee shared how Rise East and the 40×40 Council have brought together the knowledge, relationships, and resources of people and organizations committed to East Oakland.

Residents bring lived experience, community organizations bring trusted relationships and philanthropy, and businesses bring resources and opportunity, she said, then turned to the government’s role: public investment, services and policy.

But, Lee intoned, City Hall has a responsibility to help connect those efforts.

“I am committed to listening to residents, working across departments and sectors, and helping open doors to opportunity. We must connect neighborhood priorities to the decisions we make about housing, economic development, safety, health and our young people.

City Hall “must be accountable for the results,” Lee said. “The measure of success is what families experience: greater stability, more opportunity and a stronger sense that they belong and have a future here.

“Tonight is an opportunity to listen to the leaders doing this work, learn what is making a difference and identify where we can do more together,” the mayor said.

Lee went on to moderate a ‘fireside chat’ on the theme: Building Oakland’s Future Together — From Neighborhood Investment to Community Empowerment with:

Selena Wilson, CEO, East Oakland Youth Development Center
Greg Hodge, CEO, Brotherhood of Elders
Carolyn “CJ” Johnson, CEO, Black Cultural Zone
Dr. Noha Aboelata, CEO, Roots Health Center

Mayor Barbara Lee’s media relations department provided this report.

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Black History

Practitioners of African Traditional Spirituality Offer Ancestral Reverence Ritual Oct. 31

The Council for Global Ancestral Reverence will host “Ancestral Souls Rising” from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, featuring a three-day gathering of prayer and discussion. Led by elders and priests across the African diaspora, the seventh annual ritual honors those lost without traditional rites while addressing current social challenges. This year’s event connects ancestral wisdom with contemporary issues, including a two-day conversation inspired by Afro-Beat music focused on Black community solidarity and the sacred importance of voting. Read more for details on the ritual schedule and participants.

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2 days ago

October 19, 2026

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Oakland native Nedra Williams writes sacred symbols on the ground in San Leandro. Courtesy photo.

By Special to The Post

The Council for Global Ancestral Reverence (C4GAR), a group of elders who practice African traditional spirituality, will lead a three-day gathering of prayer and discussion from Oct. 31-Nov. 2.

Called ‘Ancestral Souls Rising,’ the council members and 21 priests will lead the prayers from many parts of the African diaspora: Africa, Portugal, and across the U.S. from Maryland to the Bay Area.

Now in its seventh year, the annual ritual began during the 2020 pandemic when hundreds of thousands of people died alone and were buried in mass graves without rites and rituals according to loved ones’ traditions.

This prayer event was and is intended to give peace to the departed and comfort for the living who still mourn. Each year, we gather names of new ancestors from living elders to elevate them into the “Great Hall of the Titans.”

In ensuing years, C4GAR added themes to the prayer gathering that referenced current events. In 2024, before the consequential presidential election, C4GAR called on people to vote, invoking the memory of Civil Rights Movement heroes and heroines like John Lewis, who urged “Good Trouble,” and Fannie Lou Hamer, who famously declared that she was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

The day of global Prayer on Oct. 31 will be followed by a two-day conversation inspired by “The Blueprint,” an Afro-Beat song by UyiosaEl, to write our new blueprint that supports solidarity and action in the Black community.

“Our elders have, for many generations, known the power of prayer, ritual and breath,” the council said in a statement.

It was and is their intention, then, to use the cultural wisdom, the gift of prayer “and the most sacred thing we have, our breath, to send energy into the world that invokes and honors our ancestors,” the council statement continued.

“Doing this creates a vibration that protects us and employs their ancient wisdom for the well-being of our communities,” the elders said.

The councilmembers, all over the age of 60, recognize that what is now history for so many was once their lived experience. And that history, those joys and sorrows, are now in their bodies.

To them, the uttered prayer and the sacred breath are oaths to an unfolding future that people can still shape.

The council members are Dr. Iyabeji Cathy Royal, Iyalocha Jennifer Dillard, Manbo Charlene Desir (Florida), Nana Sula Spirit (Louisiana), Baba Obafemi Feyemi, Ohen Nedra T. Williams, and Iyalocha Wanda Ravernell-Stewart Emeritus (Oakland).

This year, they also encourage everyone within their reach to VOTE because it is not only a secular and political act, but a sacred one. Remember, the ancestors were denied that right and died for it.

For tickets, go to:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/council-for-global-ancestral-reverence-presents-ancestral-souls-rising-26-tickets-2003127345814?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Community

It’s Time to Lose Weight Before the Holidays

Licensed internist Dr. H. Geoffrey Watson has joined gastroenterologist Dr. Ralph Peterson at Oakland’s MacArthur GI to address the rising obesity epidemic. With U.S. obesity rates reaching 42.4%, the clinic offers supervised weight-loss programs and screenings for fatty liver disease. Treatments include dietary counseling and various medications, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists, which regulate digestion and appetite. As certain populations continue to be disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions, medical experts are highlighting new tools available to help patients reach their goals before the holiday season. Read more.

Published

2 days ago

October 19, 2026

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By Special to The Post

Dr. H. Geoffrey Watson, a licensed internist, has joined renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Ralph Peterson at MacArthur GI in Oakland to address obesity, provide supervised weight-loss programs including GLP-1 therapy, and screen for and treat fatty liver disease.

The Obesity Epidemic

Obesity is associated with numerous chronic health problems, including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, asthma, depression, joint disorders, fatty liver disease, and high cholesterol. Its causes include genetics, environment, stress, medication side effects, hormonal imbalances, and other factors.

Since 1999, the prevalence of obesity in the United States has risen from 30.5% to 42.4%. Childhood obesity rates are also climbing, with approximately 19.3% of children and adolescents now affected.

Measuring Obesity: Body Mass Index

Obesity is measured using a formula called the Body Mass Index (BMI). You can calculate your own BMI on most smartphones by searching “BMI calculator” and entering your height and weight. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is classified as overweight, and a BMI of 30 or greater is classified as obese.

Populations Disproportionately Affected

Obesity affects certain populations at higher rates. Among U.S. adults, obesity prevalence is 49.9% in Black adults, 45.6% in Hispanic adults, 41.4% in White adults, and 16.1% in Asian adults.

Treatment Options

A variety of treatments are available for obesity, including dietary counseling, exercise programs, bariatric surgery, and anti-obesity medications.

Common oral medications include:

• Adipex (phentermine): A stimulant that works by suppressing appetite.

• Contrave (bupropion/naltrexone): A combination of an antidepressant and an anti-addiction medication that helps control appetite and cravings.

• Qsymia (phentermine/topiramate): A combination of a stimulant and an anti-seizure medication that reduces appetite and cravings.

GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Therapy

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists were originally approved to treat type 2 diabetes. GLP-1 is a hormone produced naturally by the body that regulates digestion, blood sugar, and appetite by communicating with GLP-1 receptor cells throughout the digestive tract. These medications reduce cravings, appetite, and food intake by influencing the hunger hormones ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, and leptin, which signals fullness.

What We Offer

Drs. Peterson and Watson provide FDA-approved tirzepatide injections, a GLP-1 receptor agonist medication indicated for weight management. Each patient receives a comprehensive history and physical examination to ensure the safety and appropriateness of the medication as part of an overall weight-loss protocol. Dr. Peterson also offers ultrasound screening for fatty liver disease.

We look forward to helping you reach your weight-loss goals and feel your best this holiday season.

H. Geoffrey Watson, M.D., runs the MacArthur GI Clinic at 10520 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA. He can be reached at (510) 562-7467.