December 8, 2025

Media Contacts:
Communications HBA, media@haitianbridge.org

San Diego, CA. — Haitian Bridge unequivocally condemns President Trump’s latest barrage of anti-Black, anti-immigrant attacks, including his recent remarks referring to Somali immigrants as “garbage” and asserting that the United States “does not want them in our country.” His rhetoric, reported widely in national media, is not simply insulting—it constitutes state-sanctioned dehumanization and reinforces a longstanding pattern of xenophobic and white-nationalist policymaking.

We also denounce the administration’s decision to pause all pending green-card applications for people from 19 countries and possibly more countries could be added. Nonetheless, the list is overwhelmingly made up of African, Caribbean, Arab, and Muslim nations. This mass suspension—impacting families who have lived in the United States for years, working, studying, and completing every legal requirement—amounts to collective punishment rooted in racial bias rather than legitimate national-security concerns. The decision further exposes the administration’s commitment to systematically excluding Black and Brown immigrants from the Global South.

Equally troubling is the administration’s exploitation of a recent tragedy— the killing of two National Guard officers in Washington, D.C.— as a pretext for advancing an extreme, isolationist immigration agenda. Rather than pursuing justice for the victims, the administration has used this incident to justify broad and indiscriminate immigration crackdowns against millions of people who bear no connection to the event. Haitian Bridge rejects this manipulation as both immoral and politically opportunistic. This cynical maneuver is part of a broader strategy to criminalize migrants, consolidate executive power, and dismantle asylum and immigration pathways for communities from the Global South.

Statement released by Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, Guerline Jozef:

“What we are witnessing is not new—it is the continuation of a historical pattern in which U.S. policy devalues Black lives domestically and internationally. Calling Somalis “garbage” reflects a worldview that also cages Haitian children at the border, fast-tracks mass deportations, destabilizes economies through foreign policy, and then blames migrants for seeking refuge. In his first term, he referred to Haiti and African nations as “shit hole countries.” This is structural, intentional, and violent. Haitian Bridge stands firmly with Somalis, Haitians, African, Muslims, and all Global South communities targeted by this escalating campaign of discrimination”.

We call on the United States Congress, civil-rights organizations, and the international community to condemn these actions and work to reverse the green-card freeze. We urge philanthropic partners to sustain and expand support for frontline immigrant justice organizations, especially those serving migrants from the Global South. Haitian Bridge remains committed to defending our communities through litigation, advocacy, direct services, and mobilization. We will not allow racist rhetoric or xenophobic policy to define the lives, dignity, or future of the people we serve.

                    
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ABOUT HAITIAN BRIDGE ALLIANCE

Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), also known as “The Bridge”, is a grassroots community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies, foreign policy, and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black migrants, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. HBA also seeks to elevate the issues unique to Black migrants and build solidarity and a collective movement toward policy change. Anpil men chay pa lou (“Many hands make the load light”).
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