The New York State Nurses Association hosted the vigil in front of the hospital in Borough Park to protest the nursing shortages due to the termination of the humanitarian relief program.
Out of the estimated 350,000 Haitian TPS holders in the U.S., 1 in 3 works in health care, according to independent newsroom The 19th. In New York, employment authorization granted to those with TPS expired July 24. Maimonides Medical Center is now facing the loss of many of its workers.
“Every day I work alongside immigrants from across all corners of the world, including my Haitian health care colleagues,” said Russell Pinsker, a Maimonides nurse of nine years. “Without their hard work and dedication, it would be impossible to do our jobs.”
Temporary Protected Status, which was given to Haitian immigrants in 2010 after an earthquake struck the country, allowed immigrants who came to Brooklyn to take on jobs in health care. But 16 years later, the Trump Administration terminated their status.
Pinsker, who currently works as a cardiothoracic ICU nurse, explained that the hospital is already facing problems due to the loss of Haitian staff.
“The phones are ringing, and no one can answer anymore,” Pinsker told BK Reader.
"Removing these workers will worsen staffing shortages, increase burnout and compromise patient care,” Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn said.
Bichotte Hermelyn represents Assembly District 42, which covers Little Haiti in Flatbush. Many advocates have expressed worry about how the community has gone quiet, as many residents stay at home due to fear of ICE.
Congress ruled that Haiti is now safe for Haitians to return, but Brooklyn advocates and Bichotte Hermelyn urged differently. “We cannot send our people, the Haitian people, back to a place of instability, government lists,” she said. “A place that is also crying for help and for humanitarian resources.”
Haiti is also on a "Level 4 'do not travel' advisory" by the United States government. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso agreed with Hermelyn, saying that sending Haitians back to a country that is “destabilized” will not only affect them but the people of Brooklyn.
In front of Maimonides Medical Center on Aug. 5, nurses, protesters and local politicians gathered to share a single message: for Congress to reverse the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants.
With a moment of silence, followed by a prayer, attendees on Wednesday wanted to show that the termination of TPS for Haitian immigrants will affect all those seeking health care in Brooklyn.
“We don’t want the Haitians to be here; we need them to be here,” Reynoso said.
