As a Haitian-American city councillor, New York City Councillor Dr. Mathieu Eugene has been a champion for immigrants in the United States for a decade.
With news that Haitian asylum seekers are streaming through the Quebec border, his work has now brought him to Canada.
READ MORE: Border services overwhelmed as Haitians continue to seek asylum in Quebec
He’s visiting Montreal to gather information for Haitian asylum seekers fleeing the U.S., fearing the government will soon deport them.
“Every time that I’m in the street, my constituents — Haitian people, brothers and sisters — they stop me to share their intention to come to Canada,” Eugene said.
Eugene says many Haitians making the trek are under the false impression that Canada has an open-door policy.
They’re seeing the country as if it were a “promised land,” he said.
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READ MORE: Asylum seekers entering Quebec on the rise: immigration department
Montreal’s Maison D’Haiti invited Eugene to figure out how they can work together to fully inform his constituents.
READ MORE: Couillard warns would-be asylum seekers: “There is no guarantee”
Eugene says Haitians living in the United States have received a notice saying they need to leave the U.S. by January.
That’s when their Temporary Protected Status (TPS ) expires, and it’s left people scrambling.
“They’re human beings. So that means they’re trying to survive, and they’re trying to get a way to maintain their families,” Eugene said.
About 60,000 Haitians are in the United States under the TPS.
And if many are deported back to Haiti in January as expected, it would be a huge blow to a country still reeling from the 2010 earthquake and a cholera outbreak.
“The president of Haiti was elected a year-and-a-half ago,” Eugene pointed out. “The country needs time and resources to get back on track.”
That was the same message delivered by two ministers from Haiti who visited Montreal last week.
READ MORE: Haitian government officials come to Montreal to show solidarity with asylum seekers
Eugene believes part of the solution is to lobby the American government to extend the TPS for another 18 months.
“The struggle is not over. Back to New York — we’re going to continue to fight.”
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