Haitian group condemns Trump’s ‘weaponisation of violence’ to target Caribbean immigrant communities

SAN DIEGO (CMC):

The San Diego, California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) on Friday condemned United States President Donald Trump for what it described as the president’s “weaponisation of violence” to target Caribbean and other immigrant communities.

Trump’s latest attack on Haitians and other immigrants came over reports of a fatal attack allegedly by a Haitian immigrant accused of beating a 51-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant Nilufa Easmin (also known as Yasmin) with a hammer at a Fort Myers, Florida gas station.

Police have arrested and charged Rolbert Joachin, 40, with killing Easmin.

Trump subsequently shared graphic footage of the killing and used the incident to criticise immigration policies, including temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians.

“The video of her brutal slaying is one of the most vicious things you will ever see,” Trump posted on his Truth Social media account, describing Joachin as an “animal”.

However HBA denounced Trump’s decision to “weaponise this isolated tragedy to advance a broader narrative that stigmatises black and brown immigrant communities and undermines humanitarian protections such as TPS”.

“Such rhetoric is not only misleading; it is dangerous,” Guerline Jozef, HBA executive director, told the Caribbean Media Corporation. “Our hearts are with the family of the victim during this unimaginably painful time.

“We condemn this act of violence in the strongest possible terms. But we must also be clear: one individual’s actions do not define an entire people,” she added. “The exploitation of this tragedy to demonise Haitian immigrants and dismantle humanitarian protections is both unjust and deeply harmful.

“Haitian TPS holders and immigrant families in the United States are workers, caregivers, students, and neighbours. They deserve dignity, protection, and policies grounded in truth, not fear,” continued Jozef, calling on elected officials and public leaders to “exercise restraint, accuracy, and compassion in addressing matters of public safety and immigration”.

“Amplifying graphic violence and linking it to entire populations fuel division, perpetuate racial bias, violence and distract from meaningful solutions,” Jozef said.

Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella organisation of more than 200 immigrant and refugee groups in New York, also said “the tragic situation that happened in Florida should not be used to demonise entire communities or dismantle protections that thousands of families rely on to live safely and work legally under programs like Temporary Protected Status”.

“The escalating rhetoric from the Trump administration fuels this harm by distorting individual incidents into justification for broad, punitive policy changes that scapegoats all immigrants and puts a target on their backs,” he told CMC. “Trump has repeatedly shown that he will seize on any case to dismantle legal pathways, strip protections, and expand a deportation machine that operates with little accountability or regard for due process.

“We must uphold and strengthen TPS as a critical lifeline grounded in humanitarian protection, ensure everyone has access to due process, and reject any effort to weaponise isolated cases to justify policies that put entire communities at risk.”

Jozef said, “At this moment of grief, the nation must come together, not be divided by narratives that harm vulnerable populations.”

Kelei Walker, acting field office director for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in Miami, told reporters on Friday that Joachin has been stripped of his TPS status.

She said Joachin, who arrived in a “water vessel” near Key West, Florida, in August 2022, was granted TPS in 2023.

“We’ll make sure he never gets to the streets of the United States and gets back to his home country,” Walker vowed.