Haitian congregations fight fear as Trump administration seeks deportation for immigrants

(RNS) – 'This is a church of immigrants,' said Pastor Reginald Silencieux of Première Eglise Evangelique Haïtienne in Springfield, Ohio. '... They are very scared.'

Jean-Michel Gisnel cries out while praying with other congregants at the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Sunday, January 26, 2025, in Springfield, Ohio. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)

Fiona André
March 28, 2025

(RNS) — Since President Donald Trump took office in January, congregants of the Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle church in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston have gathered weekly to pray for a miracle.

Members of the Haitian congregation hope God will soften the hearts of the country’s leaders so they will spare immigrants from deportation, said the church’s lead pastor, Bishop Nicolas Homicil.

“We prayed for God to take control of the White House, to change those people who lead the country now, to talk to them, to let them know Jesus himself was a refugee in Egypt,” Homicil said.

But on Tuesday (March 25), the Department of Homeland Security ended a program that allowed more than half a million nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to remain in the country. The DHS notice said the temporary protected status granted to individuals — many of whom entered under a Biden-era humanitarian parole program called CHNV, an acronym for the four countries — would end on April 24. It urged individuals to self-deport or prepare to face arrest after the deadline.

The news sent a shockwave through the Haitian community, as many immigrants who left the Caribbean island stricken by gang violence benefited from the CHNV program. At the Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle church, 30 members came early on Wednesday to fast and pray for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who face deportation.

Homicil said they chanted a famous Creole anthem for difficult times: “Nan mitan gwo lanmè ak tanpèt mwen te ye/San sekou m te pèdi, San lafwa, san limyè,” which translates to, “I found myself amid terrible waters and storms/ Without help, I was lost, without faith or light.” The congregation also read portions of Psalm 46, as a reminder of God’s presence.

Bishop Nicolas Homicil. (Courtesy photo)

The Trump administration’s enforcement of stricter immigration policies, Homicil said, has resulted in fear for Boston’s vibrant Haitian community — the third largest in the U.S. — and affected religious life. Service attendance started to drop a few weeks after Trump’s inauguration. On Sundays, 300 people usually attended services. About 100 do now, and many Boston-area congregations face the same problem, he said. He recently met with Muslim and Jewish ministers and Mayor Michelle Wu to discuss the issue.

Some worshippers, Homicil said, are afraid to leave their homes because they fear being arrested by immigration agents. As a result, the church’s food pantry, which serves about 250 people, started delivering food packages to homes because some beneficiaries were too afraid to attend church.

Though the DHS notice mentions “self-deportation,” that’s not an option for members of his community, Homicil said. Haiti’s situation is too fragile for them to consider voluntarily going back. In Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital, armed gangs have gained control of entire neighborhoods and could soon control the entire city. In 2024, 5,600 people were killed due to gang violence, according to the United Nations.

“Everybody is just trembling. Everybody was deceived, everybody lives in uncertainty because they cannot go back home, because back home, there is a legion of gangs who chase them out,” Homicil said.

In January 2023, the Biden administration introduced the CHNV parole program to curb illegal immigration by creating legal routes. About 532,000 people entered the country through the program and were granted Temporary Protected Status, giving them the right to remain legally in the country, to work and to receive travel authorization.

DHS suspended the CHNV program in August 2024 after an internal report revealed possible sponsorship fraud. In October, the Biden administration announced it was not renewing it. Under that ruling, immigrants would face deportation when their two-year parole grants expired if they did not find another legal pathway, but were eligible to apply for other benefits, like asylum and TPS.

The March 25 DHS notice said the CHNV programs didn’t “serve a significant public benefit, are not necessary to reduce levels of illegal immigration, did not sufficiently mitigate the domestic effects of illegal immigration, are not serving their intended purposes, and are inconsistent with the administration’s foreign policy goals.”

The day before, a first hearing was held at the District Court of Massachusetts in Boston for a lawsuit filed by immigrant advocacy groups against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, challenging the termination of the CHNV program. The lawsuit was filed by 11 beneficiaries, seven sponsors and organizational plaintiff Haitian Bridge Alliance.

The Justice Action Center, which represents the plaintiffs, also filed a motion for preliminary injunction, asking the court to suspend parole termination while the case is being heard. The next hearings are scheduled for April 7 and April 10.

At the Première Eglise Evangelique Haïtienne (First Haitian Evangelical Church) of Springfield, Ohio, congregants meet three times a week to pray for the Trump administration, pleading to God for a solution in favor of the local Haitian immigrant community, said Pastor Reginald Silencieux.

Last summer, the Haitian community of Springfield faced scrutiny and harassment after then-candidate Trump falsely alleged during a presidential debate that members of the community were eating pets in the city. The comments, and then the recent executive orders targeting immigrants, have taken a toll on the community, Silencieux said.

A weekly English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course, primarily attended by Haitian migrants, meets at First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Springfield, Ohio. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)

“This is a church of immigrants. The executive order really affects them,” he said. “They have psychological problems right now. They are very scared.”

Now, every Sunday when Silencieux looks out at the pews, he sees the effects: the 500-member congregation has considerably shrunk, he said.

As a faith leader, the situation has been overwhelming since January, he said. Many congregants don’t understand why their legal status is being challenged.

“If the system is illegal, we can say, ‘Yes, we are illegal.’ If the system is legal, we are legal because they all went through the system,” Silencieux said.

The Rev. Myrlande DesRosiers, pastor of New England Voice of Hope and Peace Ministries and executive director of the Everett Haitian Community Center in Massachusetts, said the local Haitian community has not only lost its vibrancy but also toned down religious celebrations as fewer people are attending services.

RELATED: William Barber joins faith leaders at vigil in Springfield to defend Haitian migrants

The Rev. Myrlande DesRosiers. (Courtesy photo)

For Lent, the Haitian community reflected on the fragility of life and the events that sometimes shatter one’s faith, DesRosiers said. And local Haitian faith leaders in the community have expressed a desire to dedicate more time to praying about the situation during Sunday services, she said.

“Prayer still works. … When we wholeheartedly cry out to the Lord, He does listen, but we really need to put ourselves together to make it a priority — not just something on the side, just a few minutes, but really concentrate on that and cry out to the Lord,” she said.

DesRosiers also said the situation has taken a toll on faith leaders who lead fearful congregants. “You give pastoral counseling, and you have to deal with the tears, you have to deal with the fears. You have to deal with the sadness that you see,” she said.
RELATED: Christian groups kick off Lent with letters objecting to Trump moves on budget and immigration

The Rev. Manny Daphnis, pastor at Restoration Community Church in Holbrook, Massachusetts, and a member of the Fellowship of Evangelical Haitian Pastors of New England, said his latter organization tries to equip faith leaders with resources to protect worshippers. In light of the immigration policy changes, the fellowship urged churches to designate someone to identify who is entering sanctuaries “so that folks aren’t just welcoming ICE members into the congregation and worship services,” he said.

The group also urged faith leaders to be responsible and to educate congregants on their rights and obligations.

Meanwhile, as the clock ticks for those who will soon face deportation, Homicil plans to host a legal advice event on Saturday (March 29). The church will also continue its weekly prayer meetings for the Trump administration, he said.

“If God doesn’t intervene, I don’t know how this is going to be,” he said. “But God is in control of everything. Mr. Trump is not God. God is God. He’s the one who is in control.”

Jamaica rebuffs Rubio push against Cuban doctors


By AFP
March 26, 2025


US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness - Copyright AFP Juliette PAVY

Shaun TANDON

Jamaica on Wednesday rebuffed a push by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to sever a program that brings in Cuban doctors, who have become critical to health care in fellow Caribbean countries despite allegations of labor exploitation.

Donald Trump’s top diplomat held talks on the sidelines of a Caribbean summit aimed in part at finding new ideas on violence-ravaged Haiti, with host Jamaica saying it would help the new US administration in a “global war on gangs.”

But Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness made clear his differences with Rubio on the doctors, who are sent by Cuba around the world and have become a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped government.

Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous foe of the communist government in Havana, announced last month that the Trump administration would bar visas for foreign government officials who assist the program, which he characterized as human trafficking.

“Let us be clear, the Cuban doctors in Jamaica have been incredibly helpful to us,” Holness said at a joint news conference with Rubio.

He said that the 400 Cuban doctors in the country filled a deficit as Jamaican health workers emigrated.

“We are, however, very careful not to exploit the Cuban doctors who are here. We ensure that they are treated within our labor laws and benefit like any other worker,” Holness said.

“So any characterization of the program by others certainly would not be applicable to Jamaica.”

Rubio promised to engage with Jamaica to have a “better understanding” of how it treats Cuban doctors.

“Perhaps none of this applies in the way it’s handled here,” Rubio said.

But Rubio said the United States remained opposed “in general” to the program.

“The regime does not pay these doctors, takes away their passports and basically, it is, in many ways, forced labor, and that we cannot be in support of,” Rubio said.

The US special envoy on Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Caron, has also credited Barbados with taking steps to pay Cuban directors directly.

Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne earlier this month sharply denounced the US pressure, saying the absence of Cuban doctors would “literally dismantle our healthcare services and put our people at risk.”

According to Cuban official figures, Cuba sent 22,632 medical professionals to 57 countries in 2023, with Cuba earning $6.3 billion in 2018 and $3.9 billion in 2020, in part in the form of oil from Venezuela.



– ‘Global war on gangs’ –



Rubio’s trip comes as he considers a new strategy on Haiti, the hemisphere’s poorest country, which has been plunged into chaos for years after government authority collapsed and armed groups took over.

A Kenyan-led mission supported by former US president Joe Biden has deployed to Haiti in hopes of bringing stability, but the troop numbers have come up short and violence has resumed.

Holness said the United States has been an “incredible partner” on Haiti but that the priority should be on a “significant expansion in resources” to Haiti’s fledgling national police so it can take on gangs.

“The present holding situation that we have, it’s not necessarily moving the situation forward,” he said.

Holness said he spoke with Rubio about “a global war on gangs, and there is already significant policy alignment” between Jamaica and the Trump administration.

Rubio has issued a waiver to Trump’s sweeping cuts to aid to back the Haiti mission. He also announced that the United States would provide assistance to Jamaica to combat gangs, including software.

Rubio said that the support to Jamaica “highlights exactly what our vision for aid moving forward is.”

“The United States is not getting out of the aid business,” he said.

But instead of funding non-governmental groups, Rubio said, “We want to provide foreign aid in a way that is strategically aligned with our foreign policy priorities.”

Rubio offers US security for oil-rich Guyana as Venezuela looms


By  AFP
March 27, 2025


US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness in Kingston on March 26, 2025 - Copyright POOL/AFP Nathan Howard

Shaun TANDON

Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads Thursday to Guyana to offer to put the newly oil-rich nation under the US security umbrella as neighboring Venezuela asserts claims.

A decade after the discovery of vast reserves, the small South American nation is poised this year to become the world’s largest producer of oil on a per capita basis, outpacing Qatar and Kuwait.

With tensions on the rise between Guyana and US nemesis Venezuela, Rubio will sign a memorandum of understanding that outlines security cooperation, according to the State Department.

Rubio, who is flying to Guyana after talks with Caribbean nations in Jamaica, will also stop later Thursday in Guyana’s neighbor Suriname, whose own oil production is on the rise.

President Donald Trump’s administration said it envisioned a relationship with Guyana akin to those with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, which welcome US troops for their security, particularly against larger neighbor Iran.

“The security of Guyana is a key priority for us in the same way that we have been working with countries in the Gulf states to ensure the security cooperation from the regional threats there,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy on Latin America.

“We’ve seen the threats from Venezuela,” he told reporters ahead of the trip.

“Obviously, that’s unacceptable and we want to work together,” he said, to “find an agreement towards binding security cooperation.”

Guyana, an English-speaking former British and Dutch colony where the majority of the 800,000 people still live in poverty, has for years had a long-shot movement that has sought to join the United States.

Such formal accession is not expected to be discussed, but Trump has made no secrets of his passion for expansionism in the hemisphere, even at the expense of traditional alliances.

Trump has vowed to take control of Greenland from Denmark, with Vice President JD Vance paying a visit Friday criticized by NATO ally Denmark, and has insisted that the United States will “take back” the Panama Canal.



– Rising oil, rising tensions –



Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who faces reelection this year, has embraced closer defense cooperation with the United States, including through joint maritime patrols.

Venezuela, whose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro is despised by the Cuban-American Rubio, has laid claim to Guyana’s Essequibo, which covers most of the country and is the center of oil production.

Guyana earlier in March denounced what it called a Venezuelan military vessel’s incursion into its waters.

Venezuela denied any violation and requested a meeting with Ali, who dismissed the offer.

The parliament in Caracas last year approved a bill to declare Essequibo as Venezuela’s 24th state, a move rejected internationally.

Guyana insists the border was finalized by an 1899 arbitration panel, but Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region’s east as a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.

The Trump administration has put a high priority on ramping up oil production, seeing both economic and security incentives, and has brushed aside the push by previous president Joe Biden to diversify to renewables to address the planet’s fast-rising temperatures and climate disasters.

Texas-based ExxonMobil has taken the lead in oil production in Guyana which has rapidly scaled up over the past five years.

ExxonMobil anticipates gross production from Guyana of 1.3 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, dwarfing current output from Venezuela, whose industry has slumped since the 1990s after mismanagement and US sanctions.

The Trump administration, under pressure from anti-communist Latino lawmakers, has canceled US oil major Chevron’s exemption from US sanctions to operate in Venezuela.

Canada, Europe Issue Travel Advisories After Tourists Detained in US

Countries have advised transgender and nonbinary travelers to exercise additional caution when planning trips to the US.

By Zane McNeill , 

Truthout

March 24, 2025

Passengers are seen at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark on July 19, 2022.Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images


Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation.

Amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on U.S. immigration, Canada and several European countries have issued travel advisories urging their citizens to closely follow the U.S.’s entry rules, citing recent detentions and deportations.

“We have seen too many stories of citizens being pulled out of airport lines, and being fingerprinted and deported, as if they were criminals. Citizens being kidnapped to illegal detention by ICE…this is not the actions of a Democratic nation,” said Charlie Angus, a leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party.

While the exact number of travelers from Europe and Canada who have been detained or deported by U.S. immigration authorities remains unknown, several cases have made headlines. German tourist Lucas Sielaff was detained for 16 days after returning from a trip to Mexico. “Nobody is safe there anymore to come to America as a tourist,” said Sielaff, who was on a 90-day U.S. tourist permit and engaged to an American citizen.

Jessica Brösche, another German tourist, was held for over six weeks, eight days of which were in solitary confinement. According to her friend, Brösche said ICE detention “was like a horror movie.”

“They were screaming in all different rooms. After nine days, she said she went so insane that she started punching the walls and then she’s got blood on her knuckles,” her friend said.

In other cases, a British woman was held for three weeks in what her family described as “horrendous conditions” due to a visa error, and Canadian actor Jasmine Mooney was reportedly detained for nearly two weeks under conditions her mother called “inhumane,” after trying to cross the Mexico-U.S. border with incomplete visa documentation.

“There was no explanation, no warning. One minute, I was in an immigration office talking to an officer about my work visa, which had been approved months before and allowed me, a Canadian, to work in the U.S.,” Mooney wrote for The Guardian. “The next, I was told to put my hands against the wall, and patted down like a criminal before being sent to an ICE detention center without the chance to talk to a lawyer.” Mooney was confined to a bare concrete cell with no natural light, constant fluorescent lighting, no blankets, and restricted bathroom access.

Other travelers have been denied entry at the border, including a French scientist whose electronic devices contained messages criticizing President Donald Trump. This has prompted U.S. universities, such as Brown, Columbia, Cornell, and UC Berkeley, to advise students not to leave the country for spring break.

“There is a strong chance that upon trying to reenter the country, [student protesters] are stopped in the airport and detained for their activism,” said UC Berkeley student Cole Stanton. “The general advice is to not go unless you absolutely have to.”

These warnings follow recent incidents involving activists detained by immigration authorities, including Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, and Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University fellow on an employer-sponsored visa who is married to a Palestinian and has publicly condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Amid fears of deportation and detention sparked by increased immigration crackdowns — including news of a possible U.S. travel ban targeting several countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon — the Trump administration’s attack on transgender people is also raising concerns among international travelers.

“You should avoid non-essential travel to the United States… Trans people who still may need to travel to, transit through or immigrate to the United States should exercise a very high degree of caution,” Celeste Trianon, a transfeminine East Asian-Canadian jurist, recently warned.

Denmark, Finland, and Germany have specifically advised transgender and nonbinary travelers to exercise additional caution when planning trips to the United States. Danish officials now recommend contacting the U.S. Embassy before travel, and Finland recently warned transgender residents that if their “current gender as recorded in their passport differs from the gender they were assigned at birth, U.S. authorities may deny entry.”

These warnings come in response to several anti-trans Trump administration directives, including the rollback of a U.S. State Department policy that previously allowed transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people to update their passports with the gender marker “X,” as well as a travel ban targeting transgender athletes

'Paris Noir' exhibition showcases work made in French capital by black artists

The 'Paris Noir' exhibition at the Pompidou Centre brings together works by African, American, Caribbean and Afro-descendant artists who lived and worked in Paris between the 1950s and the end of the 1990s.

Curator Eva Barois De Caevel presents the new exhibition 'Paris Noir' at the Pompidou Centre, 18 March, 2025. © RFI/Melissa Chemam

By:Melissa Chemam
RFI

Issued on: 22/03/2025 - 

ifredo Lam, Beauford Delaney, Ernest Breleur, Skunder Boghossian, Christian Lattier, Demas Nwoko, Edward Glissant, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Grace Jones... These are just some of the artists whose paintings, film and audiovisual works have gone on display at the Pompidou Centre.

And then there are the American creators famed for their work produced in Paris, including Faith Ringgold, Josephine Baker and author James Balwin. Countries from Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica to Martinique, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal are also among those represented.

An exhibition like 'Paris Noir' has been long awaited at Paris's flagship modern art museum, despite a strong black, African and Caribbean presence in the French capital, for centuries.

It includes displays on the creation of the seminal magazine Présence Africaine (now also a publishing house) and that of Revue noire, which chronicled the presence and influence of black artists in France between the 1950s and 2000s.

The Pompidou Centre has also included new works by contemporary artists from Transatlantic African American and European communities, such as Jon One, Valérie John, Nathalie Leroy Fiévee, Jay Ramier and Shuck One.

'Paris Noir' is on until 30 June at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, ahead of the five-year closure of the museum for renovations. © RFI/Melissa Chemam

Black consciousness

Eva Barois De Caevel is one of the exhibition curators. "This in-depth work, a historiographical challenge, is now presenting more than 300 works and even more objects and artefacts," she told RFI.

The event is the result of two years of work by the Pompidou Centre's contemporary and prospective creation department, led by Alicia Knock.

Contemporary African culture centre to open in Paris after four-year delay

Knock was particularly insistent on including the works of artists who came to Paris in the 1950s, during the period of anti-colonial struggle which was "organised through alliances between the Americas and Africa", thanks to methods of resistance born in the Caribbean since the Haitian revolution.

Head curator Alicia Knock during the press viewing of 'Paris Noir' on 18 March, 2025. © RFI/Melissa Chemam

"We could have called the show 'Paris, Dakar', 'Paris, Lagos', 'Paris, Johannesburg', 'Paris, Havana', 'Paris, Fort-de-France', or 'Paris, Port-au-Prince'... But this would have been a bias that didn't interest us," De Caevel added.

Instead, the museum sought to focus on the idea of a black consciousness, referencing The Black Atlantic, the seminal book by British sociologist and cultural studies academic Paul Gilroy, published in 1993, an exploration of the "double consciousness" of black people in the western world during the modern period.

The curators have included artistic representations of the experience of enslavement and the slave trade, which De Caevel called "unprecedented in the history of humanity, which gives us a common base".

Equally vital to include was the experience of racism, including institutional racism. "This means that these artists were ignored," added De Caevel, "and not considered by institutions – until very recently, or even until today."

Visitors view the work of pioneering Cuban painter Wifredo Lam at 'Paris Noir'.

 © RFI/Melissa Chemam
Political context

The show is an archive of an immensely rich part of Paris's history, according to the British photographer Johny Pitts, who worked for more than a decade documenting "black Europe" in his book Afropeans.

"It reminds us that, as well as the art, it is important to show the conditions of production of the art, the politics behind the art, the intellectual movements that have helped to spearhead many black artistic traditions," he told RFI. "And I'm really glad because sometimes I feel like that gets lost."

British photographer Johny Pitts, author of 'Afropeans', at the opening of 'Paris Noir'. 

© RFI/Melissa Chemam

Beyond appreciating the visuals, for him the exhibition helps to highlight the political context in which the art was made.

Post-colonial artists reimagine the future in new Pompidou exhibition in Metz

"I think it's a very important intervention," he added. "I loved seeing the collection of Présence Africaine, the books all displayed, and also the work of photographers like Haitian Henri Roy, who's one of my favourite photographers and has been going for a long time: here, finally, he gets his credit. There's a lot of work in here that I have seen for the first time, and then artists whose work I actually didn't know. It's just so powerful."

Pitt's photographs were recently exhibited in the French capital by Little Africa, an art space in Paris's Goutte d'or neighbourhood founded by a group of African cultural players.

Curated with Little Africa, numerous art, cultural and educational shows have been scheduled in venues across Paris and the Île-de-France region as parallel events reflecting "black Paris" to run intended with the Pompidou Centre's exhibition.

'Paris Noir' is at the Pompidou Centre in Paris until 30 June, 2025.

The Final Hours of Jessie Hoffman, Murdered by the State of Louisiana

The killing of this man, said one of his lawyers, "has been in service of no one, but the bloodlust of our state government.”


This undated photo shows Louisiana death row inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr., who was murdered by the state of Louisiana with a lethal dose of nitrogen gas this week after being sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Mary Elliott.
(Credit: Caroline Tillman/Federal Public Defender's Office For the Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana)

Bill Quigley
Mar 20, 2025

Common Dreams


Three hours before he was to be murdered by the State of Louisiana, Jessie Hoffman greeted me with a strong handshake and an embrace. He stared deep into my eyes and thanked me for coming. We discussed his son, also named Jessie, and how proud he has made his dad.

Also visiting were three of the many lawyers who had been fighting for his life, Cecelia Trenticosta Kappel of the Loyola Center for Social Justice, Samantha Bosalavage Pourciau of the Promise of Justice Initiative, and Sarah Ottinger, who had been representing Jessie Hoffman for 19 years. I was there to witness the murder of Mr. Hoffman if Louisiana reversed its course and allowed one of the legal team to remain through the whole process.

Already in the room when we arrived was Rev. Reimoku Gregory Smith, a Buddhist priest Hoffman chose to accompany him. Jessie is a practicing Buddhist and has been a leader among those in prison for decades. Reverend Reimoku was in long black robes. He was serene and almost glowing in kindness.

We sat around a big wooden conference table that had the logo of the State of Louisiana carved into the middle of it. Uniformed officers from the Louisiana State Penitentiary sat in opposite ends of the room. There were two big pictures on the walls—one of Elijah on a flaming chariot and one of Daniel in the lion’s den.

The room in which Louisiana planned to murder Jessie Hoffman was steps away.

The victim’s sister-in-law specifically asked Louisiana not to murder Jessie Hoffman, saying “Executing Jessie Hoffman is not justice in my name, it is the opposite.”

Jessie Hoffman is about six feet tall and muscular. He was wearing a black t-shirt that said Life Row in white letters on it—the name that its 50+ occupants prefer to call what the outside world calls death row. He has been fasting for days and mostly sits quietly with his arms on the wooden table, staring intently at whoever was talking to him.

Jessie was holding his favorite book, "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation" by Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, author, poet, and peacemaker who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jessie asked Reverend Reimoku to read his favorite passage from the book to us. It was called the Four Immeasurable Minds: Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity. He read and reflected as we took in these words together. Jessie occasionally closed his eyes.

Louisiana was scheduled to murder Jessie Hoffman by first immobilizing him by tying down his arms, hands, legs, and torso on a crucifix-like platform. Then, once he was helpless to resist, they would cover his face with an industrial-grade respirator and pump his lungs full of poison high-grade nitrogen gas. Nitrogen gas causes death by depriving the body of oxygen, essentially causing suffocation in a phenomenon known as hypoxia. This method is so horrible all but two states have stopped using nitrogen gas on animals declaring it inhumane. The United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights has condemned the use of nitrogen gas in executions saying its use could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment in violation of international human rights law.

Jessie Hoffman was to be murdered by Louisiana because he had as a teenager, after years of shocking physical, sexual and psychological abuse, committed a horrible murder in 1996.

Now the Louisiana Governor claimed it was necessary for the state to respond to this murder by itself murdering Jessie Hoffman to “prioritize victims over criminals.”

Yet the actual family members of the victim of Jessie’s murder were not asking Louisiana to murder him.

The victim’s sister-in-law specifically asked Louisiana not to murder Jessie Hoffman, saying “Executing Jessie Hoffman is not justice in my name, it is the opposite.”

The victim’s husband refused to attend the state execution and said he is now “indifferent to the death penalty vs life in prison without parole.” He also another reason for not attending was he was “just not really feeling like I need to watch another human being die."

Years before, Jessie Hoffman wrote a statement apologizing to the victims. Louisiana refused to deliver it to the family.

Jessie and the victim’s sister-in-law tried to talk by zoom so Jessie could apologize to her directly but Louisiana would not allow it.

As our visit continued, another long-time lawyer arrived. Caroline Tillman, who has been working to save Jessie Hoffman from state murder for 22 years, came directly from federal court in New Orleans. Teams of lawyers tried to stop the state murder of Jessie Hoffman, filing in several state and federal courts. Only the U.S. Supreme Court had not been heard from yet.

More prayers were said. The letter from the sister-in-law asking that the state murder not go forward was read aloud. More prayers. More than 250 faith leaders had recently signed letters asking Louisiana not to revive the practice of state murder with nitrogen gas.

With less than an hour to go before the scheduled murder of Jessie Hoffman, the Warden came in and politely but firmly terminated the lawyers’ visit. He refused permission to allow any lawyer to stay and witness the murder of Jessie Hoffman. Only Reverend Reimoku was allowed to remain.

After the lawyers were escorted out, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop the murder of Mr. Hoffman by a vote of 5-4, one vote short of the 5 votes needed for a stay.

The murder of Jessie Hoffman by Louisiana could now begin.

John Simmerman, a journalist with Nola.com, was one of two media witnesses allowed to view the execution of Jessie Hoffman. He reports that at 6:21 pm the ultra-high-grade nitrogen was pumped into the immobilized Mr. Hoffman. His breathing became uneven. His chest rose. He made a jerking motion. His body shook. His fingers twitched. He pulled at the table. His hands clenched. His breathing slowed. His head moved inside the mask. He jerked slightly around 6:27 pm and stopped moving. Louisiana officials reported the poison gas was pumped into Jessie Hoffman for 19 minutes until he was pronounced dead. The last view of Jessie Hoffman with his face now uncovered showed “his head was tilted back, teeth exposed in a grimace.”

The murder of Jessie Hoffman by Louisiana was now complete.Samantha Pourciau, who was with Jessie Hoffman on his final day on earth, said: “Tonight, while many in our state cannot afford groceries, the state used countless resources to kill one man. The governor cannot cloak this in fighting for victims, because today we learned that this is not, in fact, what this family wants. This is what the governor wants. This has been in service of no one, but the bloodlust of our state government.”

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Bill Quigley is Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years. He volunteers with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau de Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port au Prince.
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Building a safer future: Rice researcher works to strengthen Haiti’s earthquake resilience

Rice University

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Marc-Ansy Laguerre presenting his research.

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Credit: Rice University.

Over the past two decades, Haiti has endured the devastation of two catastrophic earthquakes — first in 2010 and again in 2021. Each disaster left behind widespread destruction: buildings reduced to rubble, entire communities displaced and an overwhelming loss of life. A major factor in the severity of these tragedies was the widespread structural failure of poorly designed buildings, many of which were not constructed to withstand the powerful tremors.

Marc-Ansy Laguerre, a postdoctoral associate in civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, is determined to change that.

Having grown up in Haiti, Laguerre witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by these natural disasters. He says living through the 2010 earthquake, which claimed an estimated 300,000 lives, reinforced his commitment to helping build a safer future for his country.

His academic path has been laser-focused on this mission. Before attending Rice as a graduate student and now a postdoc, Laguerre earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the State University of Haiti then attended the University of Pittsburgh as a Fulbright Scholar, earning a master’s degree in civil engineering and a graduate certificate in Latin American studies. Laguerre said he hopes to work in earthquake mitigation and education to protect vulnerable communities from future disasters.

At Rice, Laguerre has found a mentor in Reginald DesRoches, an internationally recognized structural engineer and earthquake resilience expert. Now the university’s president, DesRoches previously served as the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering at the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, the role he held when Laguerre arrived at Rice.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, DesRoches said he felt an immediate connection with Laguerre and recognized his potential early on. Even after assuming the presidency in 2022, he has remained actively involved as Laguerre’s adviser.

“Marc is deeply committed to building a more resilient Haiti, and his passion for earthquake mitigation is both inspiring and essential,” DesRoches said. “His dedication to using engineering to protect communities from future disasters reflects the kind of leadership and innovation we need in this field. I have no doubt that his work will make a lasting impact.”

Haiti’s seismic vulnerability

Together with Mohammad Salehi of the engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Laguerre and DesRoches conducted a comprehensive numerical analysis to assess the seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) structures in Haiti. Their research, recently published in Earthquake Spectra, explores cost-effective retrofitting solutions that could help fortify buildings against future earthquakes.

“The level of destruction from these earthquakes is a reminder of the urgent need for stronger, safer construction practices in Haiti,” Laguerre said. “Unfortunately, many buildings, especially those constructed before 2010, were not built with seismic resilience in mind.”

The study focused on common structural weaknesses in Haitian RC buildings, which are prevalent in both residential and commercial construction. Many of these buildings suffer from insufficient column reinforcement, poor concrete quality and a lack of lateral load resistance — design flaws that make them highly vulnerable to collapse.

“Haitian buildings were largely constructed without seismic codes in place,” Laguerre said. “Many of them rely on weak columns with minimal reinforcement, which means they cannot properly absorb earthquake forces. When the ground shakes, these structures collapse instead of flexing or redistributing energy.”

Engineering solutions

To determine the most effective retrofitting methods, Laguerre, DesRoches and Salehi created detailed 3D computer models of four common Haitian building types ranging from single-story homes to multistory commercial structures. Using advanced engineering software, they simulated earthquake forces and tested five different retrofitting techniques:

● RC jacketing — adding reinforced concrete around existing columns to strengthen them.

● RC shear walls — thick concrete walls that provide additional lateral support.

● Steel braces — rigid frames that help buildings absorb seismic forces.

● Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) — specially designed braces that flex without breaking.

● Prestressed high-strength steel cables — tensioned cables that reinforce structures.

The goal of these retrofits was to bring buildings to a Life Safety Code performance level, meaning that while structures could sustain damage during a major earthquake, they would remain intact and prevent catastrophic collapse.

“To evaluate the effectiveness of each retrofit strategy under real seismic conditions, we applied 11 simulated ground motions — one of which was recorded in Haiti — representing the Earth’s surface movement during an earthquake,” Laguerre said.

The team found that all five retrofitting techniques improved seismic performance, but their effectiveness varied depending on the building type.

For residential buildings, the best results came from using steel braces combined with RC jacketing, which significantly reduced structural movement during an earthquake.

“Steel braces are a practical and relatively low-cost way to strengthen homes,” Laguerre said. “When combined with RC jacketing, which reinforces the existing columns, it creates a much stronger structure.”

For larger, nonresidential buildings, BRBs and shear walls proved to be the most effective solutions. These reinforcements helped distribute earthquake forces more evenly, reducing the risk of collapse.

“For schools, hospitals and government buildings — places where structural failure would be disastrous — adding BRBs or shear walls should be a priority,” Laguerre said. “These global retrofit techniques substantially reduced interstory drift demands, decreasing the risk of collapse.”

A roadmap for a safer Haiti

The study’s findings have significant implications for Haiti’s disaster preparedness strategy. With limited resources, the country needs retrofitting solutions that are both effective and cost-conscious.

“We can’t prevent earthquakes, but we can prevent buildings from collapsing,” Laguerre said. “This research provides a roadmap for making existing structures safer while keeping costs manageable.”

Beyond engineering solutions, the team stressed the importance of policy changes and education initiatives to promote safer construction practices.

“These findings can inform building codes and guide engineering practices for safer construction,” Laguerre said. “We want to create lasting changes so that when the next earthquake strikes, Haiti will be better prepared to withstand it.”

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Journal

Earthquake Spectra

DOI

10.1177/87552930241311975 

Article Title

A numerical study on the seismic retrofit of Haitian reinforced concrete building frames

UK 

‘Foreign aid cuts force a reckoning with the future of development’

Calvin Bailey   

15th March, 2025

Photo: Alexander Lukatskiy / Shutterstock

During my 25 years of military service, some of my proudest achievements were in leading humanitarian relief operations, including airdrops of aid to the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar, and operations responding to disasters in Haiti and the Philippines.

It is from this experience, and as a Zambia-born British MP and the UK’s new Trade Envoy to Southern Africa, that I reflect on the shift we must see now that our Official Development Assistance spending is reduced to 0.3% of GNI.

I believe we must start, not by harking back to the past, but with an understanding of the kind of partnership lower income countries actually want from us. This is precisely the right moment for reflection, because, largely below the radar, our country is engaging in the first serious refresh of our approach to Africa for many years. It is only a shame that the truly progressive fresh agenda that the government will set out is not yet ready and so can’t provide the context for current discussions about development spending.

‘African states don’t want charity on our terms but equal partnerships’

What African states want from the UK is not charity handed out on our terms, but equal partnerships to deliver shared economic growth and bolster state capacity. Conversations with our excellent diplomats make clear that when today’s African governments request support, it isn’t for more aid monies, but for smart, targeted technical assistance to support growth.

How much better would it be to take steps, alongside our African friends, which build tax bases by tackling tax evasion and unsustainable debt and ensuring access to finance for investment? This would make it possible for essential services like health and education to be funded domestically and place more power in the hands of African representatives and civil societies. 

In reality, flows of aid have long been small in comparison to flows from trade, investment, and remittances from diaspora communities. Even the strongest advocates for aid spending acknowledge that the last century’s massive reductions in poverty have owed far more to structural economic and political shifts than to ODA.

‘We can do more if development is integrated at a high strategic level within our foreign policy’

This is in no way an argument for reducing UK development expertise, which must continue to make its vast contribution to improving health and livelihoods, securing rights, and protecting peace. Instead, it is a call for development advocates to come together and recognise the importance of resetting the narrative about global solidarity and relationships with lower income countries and regions.

There are many steps that can now be taken which could increase the overall contribution of UK partnerships for development, despite a falling ODA share. We can do more if development is prioritised and integrated at a high strategic level within our foreign policy, and if reforms are made to join up the expertise held in the FCDO with policies and sources of finance held in other Departments, alongside development banks like British International Investment.

‘It is more important than ever for us to lean in to Africa’s own agendas’

Ensuring that UK international engagement pulls together in a pro-development direction represents one side of this agenda. When I was in Haiti, I saw the truly excellent work that DfID experts did in working with the World Food Programme to make it far more effective in meeting people’s needs.

So, the other side is recognising that many of our closest friends and allies are making similar decisions on aid financing, and that actors like India, Brazil, Turkey, and the Gulf States are increasingly important development partners for lower income countries. Our diplomatic networks and much-valued role in multilateral institutions will often put the UK in a prime position to bring different partners together, pooling and coordinating resources for far greater development impact.

In this geo-politically fragmenting and fast-changing world, it is now more important than ever for us in the UK to recognise and lean in to Africa’s own agendas. This means action to increase trade and investment. It means industrial strategies that move up the economic value chain from extracting primary commodities to processing and manufacturing with them, including for the critical minerals so important for our net zero goals. It means enhancing people-to-people links, including remittances and partnerships involving soft power assets like our universities and cultural institutions. Last but not least, it means action on debt sustainability and access to affordable financing for investment. 

All of these represent highly progressive steps to reduce aid dependency while highlighting that growth and development are of mutual benefit. It is essential that our diplomatic networks are invested in to enable these opportunities to be seized.

The world has changed, and our national contribution to global development is so much broader than aid. The UK’s development sector must not become mired in despair or nostalgia – what we can achieve together for a brighter future is far too important for that.

 

Calvin Bailey

Calvin Bailey is the Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead and a former Royal Air Force officer.

View all articles by Calvin Bailey

Doctor barred from re-entering US after visiting family in Lebanon

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old working at Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension was barred from entering the US, with her phone seized.

The New Arab Staff
16 March, 2025



A doctor and professor who travelled to Lebanon to visit her parents was prevented from re-entering the US [Getty]


A doctor and professor who travelled to Lebanon to visit her parents was prevented from re-entering the US once she landed at Boston’s Logan International Airport this week, her lawyer said in a statement.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old working at Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension since July last year, had been working in the US for around six years, her colleague said after she was barred entry.

Alawieh had an H-1B visa from the US consulate in Lebanon, given to people in speciality occupations which require expertise. Her attorney confirmed that the visa was valid until mid-2027.

Alawieh was detained at the airport, various reports said, with her relatives afraid that she would be deported back to Lebanon.

"We are at a loss as to why this happened…I don’t know if it’s a byproduct of the Trump crackdown on immigration. I don’t know if it’s a travel ban or some other issue," Thomas S. Brown, the attorney representing Alawieh and Brown Medicine said.


Brown added that Alawieh’s phone was also seized, leaving him unable to contact her.

He further explained that her visa had a "wrinkle" but confirmed that it had been "relatively easy" to fix and that "whatever is going on is not the consequence of the actions at the American consulate."

He also said he would not know the reasons US customs and border protection gave for her detention until he spoke to Alawieh. Since she was held at the airport, which is not considered US soil, she was not allowed legal counsel.

One report, citing a mutual friend in Connecticut, said customs agents only gave Alawieh one phone call before taking her phone. She made the call to her brother, based in Switzerland, who spoke to a customs official.

In an interview, Dr. George Bayliss, the medical director of Brown’s organ transplant division, slammed the detention, calling it "outrageous".

"This is a person who is legally entitled to be in the U.S., who is stopped from re-entering the country for reasons no one knows. It’s depriving her patients of a good physician," he said.

Both Bayliss and Alawieh graduated from Lebanon's prestigious American University of Beirut (AUB) medical school and went to the US for a nephrology fellowship at Ohio State University.

Following this, Alawieh secured a position for a transplant fellowship at the University of Washington and had a residency at the Yale hospital system, before starting at Brown Medicine last July.

According to Bayliss, she planned to be in Lebanon for two weeks and texted a co-worker on Thursday saying she had arrived in Boston. However, shortly after, her parents were contacted by immigration officials.

Other medical professionals working alongside Alawieh condemned the decision to bar her from entering the US.


The surgical director of the organ transplant division at Brown University Health, Dr Paul Morrissey, said that Alawieh’s role was key, as she was responsible for getting people in Rhode Island on the list for kidney transplants, which he said was critical currently.

"It’s putting a strain on our office. Her work has been exceptional", he added.

The latest developments come as the Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The memo lists a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Cuba and North Korea among others, would be set for a full visa suspension.

In the second group, five countries - Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan - would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.

 

Doctor at Brown University deported to Lebanon despite US judge’s order

Dr. Rasha Alawieh. (Supplied)

Short Url

https://arab.news/z4psw

Reuters

March 17, 202502:44

• Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen, has an H-1B visa authorizing her to work at Brown University, yet she was detained on Thursday after returning from travel to Lebanon
• Her expulsion is set to be the focus of a hearing on Monday before a federal judge in Boston, who demanded information on whether his order had been “willfully” disobeyed

BOSTON: A Rhode Island doctor who is an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported to Lebanon even though a judge had issued an order blocking the US visa holder’s immediate removal from the country, according to court papers.
The expulsion of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, is set to be the focus of a hearing on Monday before a federal judge in Boston, who on Sunday demanded information on whether US Customs and Border Protection had “willfully” disobeyed his order.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said he had received a “detailed and specific” timeline of the events from an attorney working on Alawieh’s behalf that raised “serious allegations” about whether his order was violated.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Rasha Alawieh was removed after arriving at Boston airport

• Judge questions if Customs and Border Protection disobeyed his order

• Court hearing set for Monday

The agency has not said why she was removed. But her expulsion came as Republican US President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to sharply restrict border crossing and ramp up immigration arrests.
A CBP spokesperson, Hilton Beckham, in a statement said migrants bear the burden of establishing admissibility and that the agency’s officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.”
Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen who lives in Providence, was detained on Thursday after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston after traveling to Lebanon to see relatives, according to a lawsuit filed by her cousin, Yara Chehab.
She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University before then completing a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moving to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June.
While in Lebanon, the US consulate issued Alawieh an H-1B visa authorizing her entry into the United States to work at Brown University, the lawsuit said. Such visas are reserved for people from other countries who are employed in specialty occupations.
Despite that visa, CBP detained her at the airport for reasons her family members have still not been provided, according to the lawsuit, which argued her rights were being violated.
In response to the lawsuit, Sorokin on Friday evening issued orders barring Alawieh’s removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice to the court and requiring her to be brought to a court hearing on Monday.
Yet according to the cousin’s attorneys, after that order was issued, Alawieh was flown to Paris, where she was then set to board a flight for Lebanon that had been scheduled for Sunday.
Sorokin on Sunday directed the government to provide a legal and factual response by Monday morning ahead of the previously scheduled hearing and to preserve all emails, text messages and other documents concerning Alawieh’s arrival and removal.
Concerns have also been raised in other cases about whether the Trump administration is complying with court rulings blocking parts of its agenda.
The Trump administration on Sunday said it has deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador under seldom-used wartime powers, despite a federal judge’s order temporarily barring such deportations.