Fanel Merville’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing for the last few days.
Melville says he’s been responding to anxious calls from Haitian immigrants who have a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and have lots of questions as they may face deportation due to their TPS status expiring Monday. The legal status allowing otherwise undocumented people with the opportunity to live and work openly, is set to expire for Haitians and Syrians across the country.
Melville said his immigrant clients called him all wanting the answer to the same question.
“What can I do,” Merville said.
Merville is executive director of the Center for Immigrant Development, Inc. in Bridgeport, which connects immigrants, mostly Haitians, with legal services and resources.
Now Merville and other immigrant advocates across Connecticut say they’re still providing aid while preparing their clients for the real possibility they could soon face apprehension and deportation.
Merville, a Haitian American, has heard from many Haitians over the last few days, and said they try to latch onto whatever options they may have to stay in the state and country they now call home.
TPS holders, according to Merville, are still hopeful that there is a way out of their situation.
But that hope is being preyed upon by con artists, trying to take advantage of their situation by scamming them out of money, tricking them into thinking there’s a way to fix their legal statuses, Merville said.
The termination of TPS for Haitian and Syrian immigrants residing in the U.S. comes a month after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration’s efforts to expire their statuses.
NPR reports 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians across the country could be impacted.
Maggie Mitchell Salem, executive director for New Haven-based Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), said she had to be realistic about the chances of increased federal law enforcement scrutiny on members of the local Haitian community who have had TPS status.
IRIS volunteers have brought food and supplies to Haitian immigrants who are now out of work. They’ve also escorted their clients’ children to school, as Haitian TPS holders worry over being detained by federal immigration authorities. IRIS volunteers even bought school supplies for them.
Mitchell Salem said she’s trying to help those she can.
“Our caseworkers are talking to Haitian clients every day to determine what is possible, to also talk through with them their options, depending on what other status they may have or might apply for, and then what that would look like,” Mitchell Salem said. “And so we're meeting with people every day to try to assess what's possible.”
Mitchell Salem criticized the end of TPS for Haitians, characterizing it as cruel and said she worried what could happen next.
The United Nations has described widespread human rights violations in ICE detention centers, from physical abuse, to withholding medical care. According to the U.N., death rates have spiked since 2024.
While TPS is expected to expire for Haitians and Syrians by the end of the day on July 27, federal officials including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, have pushed to give TPS holders an opportunity to obtain permanent legal statuses or delay the expiration of their statuses..
DeLauro said the U.S. House passed a discharge petition that would have extended TPS for Haitians, many of whom fled violence and instability in Haiti.
DeLauro said Haitians also make up a key part of the health care sector in Connecticut, many holding caregiving roles. DeLauro said removing them from such jobs would adversely impact Connecticut and other states.
“I have to believe that if the home health care industry is disrupted, it's all over the country, and that my Republican colleagues in the Senate should have some interest in this,” DeLauro said.
