MIREMS chooses a story from our daily advisory reports to share on our blog. These cross-cultural translation summaries are a first hand look at what ethnic and multilingual media are reporting on across the country. As Trump targets immigrants, the elderly brace for losing caregivers - Haitian Source: Haiti Sun a daily paper out of Port-au-Prince.
Translated Summary: The elderly are bracing for losing their immigrant caregivers as Temporary Protection Status (TPS) comes to an end. People living with disabilities, serious illness and the frailty of old age are bracing to lose caregivers due to changes in federal immigration policy. Many immigrants work in health care, often in gruelling, low-wage jobs as nursing assistants or home health aides. Now these workers’ days are numbered in Boston, the city with the nation’s third-highest Haitian population, the decision has prompted panic from TPS holders and pleas from health care agencies that rely on their labor. The fallout offers a glimpse into how changes in immigration policy are affecting older Americans in communities around the country, especially in large cities. Ending TPS for Haitians “will have a devastating impact on the ability of skilled nursing facilities to provide quality care to frail and disabled residents,” warned Tara Gregorio, president of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, which represents 400 elder care facilities, in a letter published in The Boston Globe. Nursing facilities employ about 4,300 Haitians across the state, she said. Nationwide, 1 million immigrants work in direct care — as CNAs, personal care attendants or home health aides — according to the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, a New York-based organization that studies the workforce. Immigrants make up one in four workers. Originally published March 26 2018
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A month ago, MIREMS reviewed how ethnic media is discussing immigration reform in the US. We saw how immigration reform was widely seen as a divisive wedge issue and how, contrary to the perception that it mostly affects Hispanics, each ethnic minority feels the impact on members of their community.
With the March 5 deadline for an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program come and gone - thus rendered merely symbolic by court action - there is still no permanent solution for the Dreamers in sight. In fact, the deadline passed almost unnoticed in the ethnic media, where not only the Parkland shooting and calls for gun control but also reports on Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) raids and abuses, Trump's war on sanctuary jurisdictions, and growing fear of deportation in the immigrant community dominated the news. The national Spanish TV station Univision has almost daily reports on raids by immigration authorities and their impact on the Hispanic population. Many immigrants, even with legal papers, are afraid to drive, take public transit and go to work after news spread that ICE was conducting operations on buses and at work places. "A nut factory outside Fresno lost 5-10 percent of its employees when a raid was announced, even though the employer checks all employees' status on e-Verify as required" (Univision, New York, 1 Mar. 2018). While the Hispanic weekly La Raza denounced that ICE was targeting Dreamers for arrest (La Raza, Chicago, 6 Mar. 2018), the weekly Hoy Los Angeles criticized immigration authorities for separating children from their parents at the border as "cruel and unnecessary" (Hoy Los Angeles, 5 Mar. 2018).
Univision reported that only 2,000 out of 11,000 unaccompanied minors who filed asylum claims were accepted because many are unable to articulate their legitimate fears well enough (Univision, New York, 1 Mar. 2018).
The Vietnamese daily Viet Bao reported on an incident where 92 Somalis were shackled at the wrist, waist and legs for over 48 hours during their deportation, were not allowed to use the rest room and were beaten and threatened (Viet Bao, Los Angeles, 7 Mar. 2018). Also according to Viet Bao, Vietnamese immigrants across the country have filed a lawsuit alleging US authorities are rounding them up and holding them in detention facilities for deportation even though Vietnamese immigrants who came to the US before 1995 cannot be deported (Viet Bao, 1 Mar. 2018). The national Chinese daily paper Sing Tao reported on the conflicts between mayors of sanctuary cities like Oakland and New York on the one hand and national authorities on the other. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned undocumented residents of an ICE operation in 77 California businesses and identified ICE activities as a tactic to create fear (Sing Tao USA, New York, 26 Feb. 2018). Chinese organizations, including Chinese For Affirmative Action and Chinese Progressive Association, participated in a demonstration outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in San Francisco in solidarity with the more than 10,000 undocumented Chinese migrants in San Francisco (Sing Tao Daily, San Francisco, 1 Mar. 2018). The expiration of the DACA deadline was reported in Voice of America Vietnamese, which noted that options for a resolution were "on the back burner" and the White House apparently expecting a Supreme Court victory (VOA, Washington, DC, 6 Mar. 2018). The weekly Russian Bazaar was hopeful that the court rulings meant that DACA beneficiaries could renew their permits indefinitely, would not be deported and would eventually get permanent residence, even if it is under the next president (Russian Bazaar, New York, 28 Feb. 2018).
However, Spanish media including the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald did not believe President Trump's assurance that Dreamers "don't need to worry" about deportation and feared that their migratory limbo could be "lethal in the anti-immigrant era of Trump" (El Nuevo Herald, Miami, 6 Mar. 2018). Hoy Los Angeles and La Raza reported on high rates of anxiety and depression among Latino parents and adolescents and avoidance of medical attention, police help and social services support due to fear of immigration authorities and family separation on the part of both legal and undocumented residents (Hoy Los Angeles, 1 Mar. 2018; La Raza, Chicago, 2 Mar. 2018).
Meanwhile, Haitian and African American media focused on a lawsuit by Haitian and Salvadoran immigrants who claim President Trump's cancellation of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans was racially motivated (South Florida Times, Fort Lauderdale, 1 Mar. 2018, and Haitian Voice of America, Washington, DC, 2 Mar. 2018). While the DACA deadline passed with little notice or end in sight, immigration issues remain a central preoccupation of the ethnic media. Each community has its own concerns and perspectives, which are reflected in the papers, websites, radio station and TV programs they turn to for news, analysis and perspectives relevant to their own lived experience. At MIREMS, we continue to tap into these voices, and make them accessible to decision makers. For immigrants - undocumented or not - and their families, raising their voices is more imporatant now than ever. MIREMS chooses a story from our daily advisory reports to share on our blog. These cross-cultural translation summaires are a first hand look at what ethnic and multilingual media are reporting on across the country. TPS: A group a Haitians and Salvadorians took the Trump administration to court - Haitian Source: Voice of America Creole in Washington DC, Radio The US administration will be before the courts since a Haitian and Salvadoran group seeks justice for the decision to end the TPS program in 2019 - a subject that attracts many people. Haitians and Salvadorans have a lot of doubt about whether they can stay in the country or whether they will be deported. They prefer to go to Canada because many people have told them that Canada will accept them, so they do their best to get there. Unfortunately, once they arrive to Canada, they realize that the problem is very difficult. Instead of running and going to Canada, they are asked to wait because we are fighting for them to find a solution. We are sure and certain that there will be a solution, and we don't want them to get into trouble when they arrive in Canada. Story published on 02/03/2018 MIREMS consultants translate and summarize hundreds of stories daily across North America. Making language barriers transparent, bringing diverse voices to the forefront.
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