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- [00:00]
A
Well, this thing is hanging over this policy, the Supreme Court. Are you guys paying attention to it? Are you?
- [00:04]
B
Oh, yeah, I'm always worried about it. Yeah, I'm always worried about it.
- [00:08]
C
She's so worried. She dreamed about me.
- [00:10]
B
I absolutely do. Yeah, because the whole thing is so terrible.
- [00:16]
A
So that was Maurice. She's a home health care aide in South Florida. She is also one of more than 300,000 Haitian immigrants living and working here legally because of a special refugee program that Donald Trump is trying to end. Trump says we have too many people from shithole countries here in the United States, and we need to get rid of them.
- [00:36]
D
Why is it we only take people from shithole countries?
- [00:39]
A
Well, I am Jonathan Cohn from the Bulwark. I'm here to tell you who these people really are, the vital role they play in our community, and how many of us could pay a significant price if they get sent away. So this story starts about 25 years ago in Haiti. Maurice is a journalist and a successful one. She. She works in radio. She works for some NGOs. She's got two children. And then disaster strikes. The 2010 Haiti earthquake, which leveled the country's infrastructure and tore apart its social and political fabric. Eventually, Haiti becomes one of the most dangerous countries in the world to live in.
- [01:16]
C
I was in Haiti when it happened. Yeah, my daughter almost died. And when I asked her, you were sleeping. How did you come out? Because I was at home. I went to work. I was on a meeting, and then she told me something, pushed her away from the bed, and then she got out and the wall honor bed.
- [01:41]
A
Maurice is in the United States with her two children. That's when the Obama administration acts and extends what's called temporary protected status, which basically means, hey, we realize that your country is very dangerous. We're not going to send you back there. You can live here and work here legally until it becomes safe. Just so for people to know, is it safe to go back to Haiti? Is Haiti safe now?
- [02:03]
D
Haiti is not at all safe. Crime has increased, violence against women and children. Lack of access to. No access to education. Actually, no access to health care. Gangs have increased the territories that they occupy. The beyond Port au Prince, there's been 1.5 million people displaced. Internal displacement because they can no longer stay in the neighborhood where they lived. And, you know, the United nations did officially put out a report saying that 50 over 50% of the population of Haiti is subject to famine.
- [02:42]
A
Even before the earthquake and the temporary protected status, Haitian immigrants were gravitating to work in the care industry as home care workers or nursing home staff, partly because it was the kind of job you could get if you didn't have great language skills and you could get it without a ton of training. There was a huge demand for the job. Frankly, there were not enough native born Americans to fill the positions. And beyond all that, in Haitian culture, there's a long tradition of reverence and care for the elderly, people with disabilities. So it was a natural place to go for Haitian immigrants in this country or looking for work, taking care of
- [03:20]
D
our sick and, and elderly. It's also part of our culture. It's. For example, in, in Haiti there's. There's practically no nursing homes because elderly stay home and we take care of them. Right. And being able to take care of a aging person is actually considered a, you know, it's a blessing, we say, meaning that the donkey has children so that they can care for it, so that it can rest. And it's. In our culture, you know, we. We take care of those who. We take care of those who came in, came here before us.
- [03:58]
A
Maurice was grateful again. She's got her two kids with her. She goes looking for a job. It's tough to find job as a journalist, though. So she ends up with a relative in Georgia who suggests, why don't you become a home care worker?
- [04:10]
C
I was looking for work everywhere. Yeah, Because I'm not the type of person to just sit down. No, look, I apply everywhere. Nobody was hiring. And then my sister said, okay, come to Georgia. And I went to Georgia. And she said, I know you're a professional, but you have to start somewhere. Why don't you go to CNA school? I matter of fact, she paid for it. And I went to CN school and then I got my license and since then I've been working. And in 2015, I moved back here because I had a job waiting on me.
- [04:54]
A
Once Maurice was back in Florida, one of her clients was a World War II veteran who had flown more than 50 missions over Europe.
- [05:01]
C
That's. I miss her brother. He was an amazing guy.
- [05:05]
B
Martin. Martin. The best brother anybody could ever have. Yeah, he was wonderful. And he was a pilot in, in the war. Amazing that he was captain of this whole crew. And he did 54 missions and thank goodness.
- [05:24]
A
So you would watch Maurice with him?
- [05:26]
B
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were there everywhere.