A local celebration for Haitian Flag Day might not happen this year.
That’s just one consequence of Republican-led efforts to crack down on immigration. At the federal level, President Donald Trump has signed executive orders directing federal agencies to limit refugee applicants and implement a stricter vetting process for visa applicants.
In Indiana, state lawmakers are advancing legislation that would force local governments to comply with federal immigration authorities or else face legal action.
Leonce Jean-Baptiste, executive director of the Haitian Association of Indiana, recently spoke with Mirror Indy about the stress and anxiety being felt by Haitians in Indianapolis, many of whom came to the U.S. through immigration policies enacted by former President Joe Biden.
“There are Haitian restaurants, there are Haitians churches, and it’s a vibrant community,” Baptiste said. “The ripple effects of those measures, obviously, are being felt throughout all those different activities and programs and places of worship.”
Baptiste emigrated to the U.S. in 1994 and made a living working multiple jobs in restaurants and warehouses. He went on to earn degrees from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and Indiana Wesleyan University.
“My journey is one that celebrates immigration as a way to provide people the ability to dream,” he said, “to become something bigger than themselves.”
Baptiste also discussed why kids are not reporting to school, how migrant workers kept the economy alive during the COVID pandemic and the ways his organization is keeping Haitians aware of their rights.
This conversation with Baptiste has been edited for length and clarity.
On state and federal actions
What are you monitoring right now, both at the federal level and at the state level, in terms of legislation and executive orders targeting immigration?
A lot of our folks are in this country under Temporary Protected Status. Most recently, we also have a lot of people being added to parolee status. The Biden administration had measures that allowed Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Ukraine to get sponsorship from individuals who live in the United States. They would get a visa, go to their embassy, and they would then be coming to the U.S. under that protection for a couple of years. It is my understanding that this particular program too is in jeopardy.
People that have come to the United States with a visa normally have a two-year period they can stay in the country, and most of them actually receive their employment ID. They’re able to get work. They’re able to rent a place. This kind of protection allows individuals to come in and start a life right away.
At the state level, we’re seeing the governor pass this new executive order on immigration compelling all institutions to comply (with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Institutions like churches and schools are no longer under any sort of protection, and as a result of that, school districts are calling us to report that kids are not reporting to school. Kids are skipping meals that are very important to them. We also know folks are not going to work.
So there is sort of a general panic within the community that’s having a major, major impact, the ramifications of which could be devastating for a vulnerable community. So if their parents are not working and those kids are not going to school and everybody is kind of going underground, then to this already vulnerable community, you can only imagine how devastating that could be.
On the Haitian migration
There’s been an influx of Haitian immigrants coming to the U.S. in recent years, including to Indiana and Indianapolis. Can you talk about what led to that, and how are Haitian immigrants contributing to the economy here?
With COVID we had a very difficult time with our economy, and we knew that a lot of the states were suffering, particularly states that rely on the hospitality industry. The manufacturing industry, however, remained alive. A lot of the significant manufacturing companies in Indiana were in need of labor, and that’s how we knew of Haitians coming to look for jobs, and they were placed at a lot of different manufacturing places that needed the labor.
We saw this increase of people coming here and working at Amazon, Walmart, those big boxes, making a decent living. That fueled the growth of the Haitian community. Once people are working and able to take care of their lives, then businesses thrive. Churches see an increase of numbers.
Throughout this moment that was extremely difficult, they kept the food on the table for the Americans, because they were working the toughest jobs. The goods and services that were still needed to keep this country going, Haitians were contributing, whether they were working at Walmart, whether they were working at a food processing plant, their impact on our economy was substantial.
Do you have a sense of how many Haitian immigrants have moved to Indianapolis in the past five years?
Based on data and services we provided, we have about 15,000 in the Indianapolis area and between 40,000 and 50,000 across Indiana.
On the organization’s future
Last year, your organization held a Flag Day celebration in Lawrence. Will you be able to do this kind of event this year with this new climate and discourse around immigration?
I’m having that discussion with our team members. We have to weigh the threat that currently exists relative to whether we should be celebrating our heritage. I don’t have an answer to that question yet, as we’re wrestling with it, because I don’t think we know the full impact of all the laws that are being passed.
Things are coming at a dizzying pace. And, as you know, it’s hard to sort of digest what’s real to what’s not. And so we’ll continue to work and receive guidance from legal experts.
So there is a big question mark about whether or not celebrating Haitian Flag Day, which we’ve done for the past 16 years, will be something that we will be doing again this year. And as you can imagine, at a devastating effect.
Do you provide advice to people who are worried about being stopped by a law enforcement officer?
Many of the organizations that we work with are providing that information to all communities. Someone who is an immigrant needs to know about their rights being in this country. So what we’ve done is taken that information and made it available to Haitian Creoles. Those are the tools that we have right now that we’re using.
As you know, there’s a lot of information going on on different platforms, on WhatsApp and YouTube, and a lot of them are not necessarily true. So what we wish to do is to make sure that people have the right information and not to panic, not to make irrational decisions, to rather develop a safety plan. Should something happen, what do they need to do? And so those are the tools that we’re working with, making sure that people are aware of them.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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