'No one is safe': Inside a Maryland Haitian community grappling with ICE raids
Temporary protected status ended for an estimated 300,000 Haitians in April.
Standing near the back in a packed Salisbury, Maryland, church was a Haitian immigrant mother named Venue, joining around 100 of her community members in calling for changes to immigration enforcement in Maryland.
Venue, whose full name is not being used for her safety, is surrounded by her children. Some at the church are citizens by birthright, some not, but all still calling for change.
“Coming out, going out the house, you always just have to be careful,” Venue’s son said. “We have to take different routes. Take routes where you know police might not be around.”
Their story is among many in Salisbury that have been impacted by a wave of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action on the community’s Haitian residents.
“Everyone has a different type of their own social media, the homepage,” Venue’s son said. “Since we're Haitians… It's more like a daily thing.”
“I would just like to see like an answer all of this,” he added.
More than 1 million immigrants lost their temporary protected status (TPS) in April when the Trump administration terminated the program for 13 countries. These immigrants came from countries once deemed unsafe to return to because of war, natural disasters or other crises.
The Pew Research Center estimates this number includes more than 330,000 Haitian migrants, who are now susceptible to ICE raids and deportations.
“Somebody has been hurting my people, far too long. Far too long,” the crowd sang. “And we won’t be silent anymore.“
A second deportation flight since the termination of TPS for Haitian migrants landed on Thursday in Haiti. On board, according to Haitian officials, were 57 people, including families. According to the Haitian Bridge Alliance those included children born in the U.S. It is unclear if any had TPS status.
Their arrival comes during a violent week in Haiti; at least 47 people were killed and more than 50 others kidnapped, according to Haitian officials.
“The U.S. Embassy in Haiti said they condemn the acts of violence, yet the U.S. is VIOLENTLY sending children to these very conditions," said Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance.
"We call on President Trump and his administration to protect US born children and their Haitian families and halt all deportations to Haiti as the country continues to grapple with political instability, humanitarian crisis and ravaged by groups armed with weapons coming from the U.S.," he added.
The Haitian community in Salisbury is now shrouded by fear of further ICE operations but still determined to fight for change, local immigration lawyer Kenson Raymond said.
"I speak out because it's this injustice that's being done. But I could be walking down the street right now, and ICE decided to stop me because they may feel like I'm an illegal immigrant or criminal," Raymond said.
“This is my country. This is my people. So I have no reason not to fight," he added.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said TPS was "never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that's how previous administrations have used it for decades."
"The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe, and we expect a higher court to vindicate us in this," the spokesperson said. "We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side."
Dozens of Salisbury residents told ABC News stories of empty church pews and workplaces as growing fears of leaving the house took hold after ICE operations began.
It was the community’s faith leaders who took charge in Salisbury, organizing a march and protest Wednesday against ICE’s treatment of the city’s Haitian residents.
Among the hundred or so marchers was Gabrielle Montilus, pastor of the Pentecostal Church in Salisbury. Montilus said many Haitian members of her congregation, legal or not, are afraid to leave their homes for church.
“My country. Everybody knows the condition. There’s no way. So sending people there is not the good way because they kill them, kidnap them,” Montilus said. “Even people, citizens, even if they have a green card, they still scared.”
"Send people to the church. Send people, you know, at school. We don't have to destroy people like that,” she added. “This is a very bad feeling. Very, very, very bad feeling.”
It took Raymond around 15 years to get his green card -- now working as an immigration lawyer in Salisbury. “The biggest thing is why, you know. Daddy goes to work. Daddy never came home. Where's Daddy? Why did he take Daddy? Mom doesn't have an answer for that,” Raymond said.
His practice, WOLC Immigration Services, is just blocks away from the protest's final stopping point, the Wicomico County Executive Office.
“I had lawful status, just like a lot of these folks currently right now had lawful status -- that has been ripped away from them,” Raymond said.
Raymond told ABC News that six of his community members are currently in the process of being deported. Even in a legal capacity, he said communication cuts off as soon as someone is detained.
The branch of DHS’s immigration enforcement for Maryland's Eastern Shore did not immediately respond when asked about Salisbury’s concerns.
"The thing is, no one is safe," Raymond said. "Because the loved one is still in the U.S., there's a fear that even if they speak out while they're in their home country, my loved ones can still be affected."
Marching alongside Salisbury residents, Raymond said it’s all the more reason for those able to speak out.
“What don't break us will make us stronger, and we are trying to unite together, stand strong in the midst of the fear, in the midst of this chaotic that's going on right now,” Raymond said. “To let the people know that they're not alone.”
Local protests in reaction to ICE raids are common, like in Minneapolis, Chicago or Houston, but it’s turning that action into mobilization in the ballot box that is the real challenge, the protest’s main speaker and president of the Repairers of the Breach advocacy group Bishop William J. Barber II told ABC.
"This is America at its best, and you can see in the eyes of the people they're serious. They are not for people being mistreated like this, and the laws being used to terrorize folks," Barber said. “Don't stay in the silence. Don't stay quiet. This is not the season to be in hiding, and this should be happening all over,” he added.
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