Top Trump official warns special immigration status may end soon for a million people
BY FRANCO ORDOÑEZ
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump's top immigration official warned Hispanic members of Congress Wednesday that over a million people living in the United States under a special protected status could soon be placed in line for deportation.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that the fate of deferred action program known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — will likely be determined by the courts, perhaps as soon as September, and that attorneys he’s consulted do not think the program is legally sustainable. Kelly also would not commit to extending temporary protected status, or TPS, for nationals from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and four other countries, but indicated that TPS for Haitians will likely end.
“I have never left a meeting so emotionally affected than from what I just heard inside,” said U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who estimated that millions of people could be deported. “And I’m positive that my colleagues heard the same thing that I heard.”
Kelly spent more than an hour in an emotional Capitol Hill meeting discussing DACA, TPS and other Trump administration concerns with the Democrats. It was a dramatic shift in tone for Kelly who in previous meetings has cast himself as someone who protected the program. Trump and Republican leaders have also repeatedly stated that the 800,000 immigrants currently protected by the DACA program shouldn’t be concerned.
"Marleine Bastien, a leading figure in the Haitian community in Miami on TPS, accused the Trump administration of searching for any excuse to end protected status for Haitians.
'They are using the wrong argument on purpose because anybody who isn't blind can see that Haiti has yet to recover,”' said Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women in Miami. We believe [the decision] is wrong.” #SaveTPS
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national
Man arrested in 2004 sexual assault of Florida woman
By Associated Press July 10
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — Police in Florida say they arrested a man as he was about to flee the country to avoid charges that he sexually assaulted a mentally disabled woman.
Boynton Beach police say Pascal Estime was arrested Saturday at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as he waited to board a plane to Haiti.
They say the 55-year-old Estime sexually assaulted the then 20-year-old woman in 2004, impregnating her. The woman has an IQ of about 50. She had an abortion and the fetus was kept as evidence.
Police were unable to find Estime until last year, when he was located in Orlando. DNA tests finished last week showed he was the father.
Pascal was being held without bail Monday. Jail records do not show if he has an attorney.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
HAÏTI / CANADA
The project of the fire station disappears smokes (Le Nouveliste)
The 2.6 million dollar project for Quebec to rebuild the fire station in Port-au-Prince was declared dead recently by Quebec Mayor, Régis Labeaume. The announcement was made due to the Haitian Government’s failure to respect certain commitments to make the land available with a clear deed and an adequate survey, explained David O'Brien, spokesman for the City of Quebec.
Canada’s Bureau of World Affairs informed, at the beginning of July, that the project was no longer part of its plans, revealed the spokesman when questioned by members of the media from Quebec.
Mayor Régis Lebeaume was not able to hide his disappointment regarding the administrative pitfalls that caused about a year and-a-half of delays in the execution of the project that was to be funded by his city. Construction, he specified, had to start in January, 2016. The start of the project postponed to June, 2017 still did not become a reality, lamented the mayor.
"That disappoints me because it shows that it is extremely disorganized. When I looked at the file, I was discouraged. I wondered if they were going to come out of it someday. They have everything on a silver platter, but they are not even capable of having the deed for this property," complained Lebeaume.
Nevertheless, a fire station is expected to be built at that site, even without funding from the City of Quebec. Following a Council of Ministers’ meeting, on June 30th of this year, Haitian authorities agreed to reserve a part of the city center for the construction of two public buildings. One of the two state-approved spaces "is reserved for the construction of a building for the fire department of Port-au-Prince," according to a press release of the General Secretary of the Council of Ministers. The other project is an extension of the Hospital of the State university of Haiti now in full reconstruction.
Haiti to reform army after 20 years without
- 11 July 2017
- From the sectionLatin America & Caribbean
HaH Haitian government has launched a campaign to re-establish its army, dissolved more than 20 years ago.
It wants to recruit about 500 men and women to help deal with natural disasters and to patrol borders.
The recruitment drive follows the announcement by the United Nations mission that it would be leaving Haiti in October.
But critics say the island's small budget should be spent on the national police force of about 15,000 officers.
A Ministry of Defence statement said the recruitment drive is open to both men and women between the ages of 18 and 25, who have passed their secondary education exams.
The UN Security Council agreed in April to withdraw their security forces, the blue helmets, and leave only a small police presence to support the Haitian police.
The UN departure has sparked a debate over whether Haiti should or should not form a new army.
Many politicians support the idea arguing it would provide jobs for young people.
But the government's critics say a military force could quickly become politicised, becoming a weapon in the hands of whoever is the president or prime minister.
For much of Haiti's history, the army has been used to crack down on political dissent by a series of authoritarian presidents.
During the 29-year family dynasty founded by Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier in the 1950s, the army was pushed aside and replaced by the Tonton Macoutes, a feared private militia famed for its savagery.
But when Duvalier's son, Jean Claude, was ousted and fled to France in 1986, the army high command - notorious for its repressive tactics and packed with Duvalier appointees - remained in place.
mission played a big role in helping the country to overcome the devastation caused by the 2010 earthquake
After Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in a 1991 military coup, soldiers and paramilitary forces committed countless atrocities and are estimated to have killed about 4,000 people over the next three years.
Haiti's leaders argue the new army would have different kinds of military duties, providing help after natural disasters and fighting smuggling.
Many international donors have been unenthusiastic, after having poured billions of dollars into developing the Haitian National Police which now has about 15,000 trained members.
A Haitian model makes the headlines of a big fashion magazine (Loop)
His thin body, his svelte physique and his unstoppable elegance make him one of the most fashionable models in Italy. While only 18 years old, he is the center of the fashion world in Italy. He modeled the clothes of the latest collection of Dolce and Gabbana earlier this month.
One of the most requested young top models, is already a celebrity on Instagram. "The New Princes" ( I Nuovi Principi): is the name Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana decided to give their new collection introduced in Milan for the Autumn and winter season of 2018.
Several Milaneses (Rafferty Law, Sistine and Sofia Stallone, Jaden Smith, Presley Gerber, Firebrand Lee, Cameron Dallas, Juanpa Zurita, Lucky Blue Smith, Stefanie Giesinger, Austin Butler, Avan Jogia, Cheney Chen, Pelayo Diaz, Lala Rudge, Tinie Tempah, Pyper America Smith, Sergio Carvajal) and star models including the young Haitian Luka Sabbat, walked the runway at Milan’s Fashion Week at the beginning of May.
This collection wanted to salute the generation born with a Smartphone in their hand. In addition to participating in Fashion Week in Milan, Luka hit the headlines of the fashion magazine GQ Italy, the most important monthly male magazine in the world.
Former Haiti government official shoots himself in the head in Miami-area hotel
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
Klaus Eberwein, a former Haitian government official, was found dead Tuesday in a South Dade motel room in what the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office is ruling a suicide.
“He shot himself in the head,” said Veronica Lamar, Miami-Dade medical examiner records supervisor. She listed his time of death at 12:19 p.m.
The address where Eberwein’s body was discovered according to police, 14501 S. Dixie Hwy., is a Quality Inn.
A supporter of former Haitian President Michel Martelly, Eberwein served as director general of the government’s economic development agency, Fonds d’assistance économique et social, better known as FAES. He held the position from May 2012 until February 2015 when he was replaced. He was also a partner in a popular pizza restaurant in Haiti, Muncheez, and has a pizza — the Klaus Special — named after him.
“It’s really shocking,” said Muncheez’s owner Gilbert Bailly. “We grew up together; he was like family.”
Bailly said he last spoke to Eberwein, 50, two weeks ago and he was in good spirits. They were working on opening a Muncheez restaurant in Sunrise, he said.
But it appears that Eberwein had fallen on hard times. An Uber spokesperson confirmed that he worked as a driver for awhile in South Florida.
During and after his government tenure, Eberwein faced allegations of fraud and corruption on how the agency he headed administered funds. Among the issues was FAES’ oversight of shoddy construction of several schools built after Haiti’s devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.
Eberwein was scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Haitian Senate’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the head of the commission, Sen. Evalière Beauplan confirmed. The commission is investigating the management of PetroCaribe funds, the money Haiti receives from Venezuela’s discounted oil program.