SALISBURY, Md. (AP) 鈥� These are harrowing days for the Word of Life Center, a church that for many years has been a vibrant hub of the Haitian community in Maryland鈥檚 Eastern Shore region.
A bridal shower and yard-sale barbeque were canceled. So were English-language classes. The senior pastor of the nondenominational congregation in Salisbury, Roosevelt Toussaint, said attendance at Sunday鈥檚 service dropped by more than half. Normally, more than 500 people would have heard his sermon, titled 鈥淲hat to do in a time of crisis.鈥�
The reason for empty seats, Toussaint said, is that many community members are unwilling to venture from their homes, fearing arrests and deportation since the Trump administration for more than 1 million people from numerous countries. Among those affected: roughly 350,000 Haitians who have been living and working legally in the U.S. for years.
In Salisbury, the Eastern Shore’s biggest city, about 10% of the 33,000 residents are Haitian, many of them employed under TPS as farmworkers, and in the poultry plants that are the region鈥檚 economic backbone.
Like other Haitians losing TPS, they now face an agonizing choice: Try to stay in the U.S. and find underground work, constantly fearful of being caught by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Or return to a nation so and poverty that some feel deportation is tantamount to a death sentence.
Pastor has a message for the president
Toussaint, the Word of Life Center’s pastor since 1995, said he had a message for President Donald Trump.
鈥淲e鈥檙e expecting you to have compassion for our people. They haven’t done anything wrong,鈥� Toussaint said. 鈥淎ll they came to this country to do is to work, to make a difference in our economy. 鈥� There鈥檚 no security at home. If you really send us over there, you send us to die.鈥�
At Sunday’s service, the first since the expiry of TPS protections, Toussaint exhorted his congregants to persevere.
鈥淚鈥檓 praying this afternoon that God can make you invisible to the enemy,鈥� Toussaint told them in Haitian Creole. 鈥淭hey put a lot of terror in your heart. But God has come to tell you: 鈥橠o not be afraid!鈥� 鈥�
Some of the congregants who are U.S. citizens said they attended the service in solidarity with those losing TPS. Among them was Marjorie Estim茅, who wore a Haitian flag draped around her neck.
鈥淚 want to tell the president of the United States to stop the ICE program, so that the people can work, so ICE can stop shooting them, persecuting them, and we can go back to normal,鈥� Estim茅 said about the Trump administration’s .
But ICE had been pressing ahead, according to advocates and attorneys who say the agency is calling Haitians in for ankle bracelets and telling them not to travel more than 75 miles from their home address.
鈥淚nstead of them heavily descending on communities, they are using tactics to bring those people into their offices to either detain them … and telling them that if they don鈥檛 self deport, they will be called back, to report within a month,鈥� said Guerline Jozef, president at the Haitian Bridge Alliance.
Court rulings fueled confusion
The TPS termination affecting Haitians was challenged in district courts. On June 25, the 鈥痵ided with the government, allowing the鈥� while as to the timetable for enforcement.
On July 27, the work permits were not extended, and fear mounted in Haitian communities 鈥� not only due to the loss of jobs but also because it exposed them to deportation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just like a hurricane at Category 5 鈥� that鈥檚 how bad it is,鈥� said Samson Orneus, a member of Toussaint’s church. He helps the pastor lead the local Haitian Development Center of Delmarva and runs WOLC Immigration Services, an immigrant assistance business in Salisbury.
Throughout last week, news spread on social media about arrests by immigration authorities at gas stations and outside supermarkets.
鈥淲e had a population living legally, raising their kids, paying their bills, and with the decision (to end TPS), they were left in limbo,鈥� said Marie D. Fouch茅, founder and executive director of Safe Harbor Circles. It provides support to immigrant communities across the Eastern Shore and recorded more than a dozen arrests of immigrants in recent days, including some with TPS.
鈥淭hey have left their kids at home,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey went to the grocery, shopping at Walmart to cook for them and feed their family. But they got arrested in the parking lot, and they鈥檒l never go back.鈥�
Asked about ICE enforcement activities in Salisbury, the Department of Homeland Security said via email that DHS 鈥渄oes not discuss ongoing or future operations.鈥�
鈥淭emporary Protected Status is exactly that 鈥� temporary,鈥� the email said. 鈥淔or too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.鈥�
At a nearly empty barber shop in Salisbury, a Haitian on TPS ventured in for a haircut. Like several others, he asked to remain anonymous for fear of deportation.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going after the people committing crimes,鈥� said the 39-year-old man, who has been a caregiver at a nursing home since moving to Salisbury in 2020. 鈥淲hen I go out to the street, I鈥檓 in fear.鈥�
TPS protections for Haitians date back to 2010
The United States initially gave TPS to Haitians following a devastating earthquake in 2010 and extended it several times since.
The Trump administration pushed to end that status, saying conditions in Haiti improved. Yet almost 1.5 million people 鈥痓ecause of gang violence, and most Haitians need humanitarian aid.
鈥淲hat this administration is doing hurts me so much because it鈥檚 inhumane,鈥� said Leila Borrero Krouse, an immigration specialist with CATA, a nonprofit supporting Eastern Shore farmworkers.
鈥淚n all of these years that I鈥檝e been working with immigrants, I鈥檝e never met a criminal, a rapist, an abuser,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost come to take jobs that others don鈥檛 want. And it鈥檚 heartbreaking to see how they鈥檙e suffering.鈥�
The immigration crackdown has upended the life of Patricia Grace Louis-Jacques, a nursing student at Salisbury University who has family members and friends affected by the end of TPS. Last week, her best friend asked her to take care of her infant child if she got detained.
鈥淔rom that moment, I knew things got bad,鈥� Louis-Jacques said at a nearly empty Caribbean Creole Caf茅 under a painting of Toussaint L鈥橭uverture, a leader of the Haitian Revolution. 鈥淭heir lives have tremendously changed.鈥�
Not far from the church, near a Perdue Farms poultry plant, a Honduran woman spoke from the home which she has rarely left for a year since the Trump administration ended TPS .
She said she worked at Perdue Farms for more than two decades, repetitively cutting chickens with scissors on a fast-paced line, before losing her job last year after her TPS expired.
Her 25-year-old son, who was born in the U.S., worries that she will be detained. He often calls, reminding her to keep her living room curtains closed and avoid answering the door. Sometimes, she said, she hides by locking herself in a bathroom, where she keeps a Bible.
On weekends, she used to attend church and volunteer for events advocating for the rights of immigrants. These days, she only takes out her two dogs to the yard and then returns indoors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 terrible to live in this anxiety,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 fair to those of us who came to this country not to cause harm, but to try to have a better life.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.
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