Sen. Andy Kim (D) appeared in Maplewood on March 19, 2025, and vowed to use his position on a Senate homeland security committee to push back against Trump’s deportation efforts. (Sophie Nieto-Munoz | New Jersey Monitor)
MAPLEWOOD — In a Springfield Avenue restaurant still adorned with Christmas ornaments, Haitian immigrants met with Sen. Andy Kim Wednesday to talk about their anxiety as the Trump administration moves to end the deportation protections they’ve had since 2010.
Mario Dubois, the owner of a nearby restaurant with several employees whose temporary deportation protections are about to expire, said he’s torn between keeping those workers because they depend on their paychecks and laying them off in case immigration authorities show up at his door.
“Do I let them go or keep them on board? It’s not OK because if ICE comes to my store and asks me for paperwork, I have to give them to them. I have no choice,” he said.
During the hourlong meeting at Woulibam Restaurant, which touts its fine Caribbean cuisine, Kim, a Democrat serving his first term in the Senate, told the group of about 30 people that he’s trying to use his position on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs to push back on the Trump administration’s escalations.
“I think that’s important, not just to make the case to this administration, but to make the case to the American people — the incredible importance of the Haitian community in New Jersey and this country, but also the real and present dangers that will befall people if they are forced to go back to place right now that has no functioning government,” he said.
The Haitian immigrants who gathered in Woulibam Restaurant Wednesday have Temporary Protected Status, which gives people legal status to live and work in America but doesn’t provide a long-term path to U.S. citizenship. At least 31,480 people with TPS live in New Jersey, according to a September 2024 federal report.
The temporary status has been a lifeline for Haitians since a massive earthquake devastated the island and killed thousands of people 15 years ago. The disaster led to political unrest, violence, homelessness, and poverty, prompting officials here to renew Haitians’ protected status several times since 2010.
The Biden administration extended the protected status for Haitians until February 2026. When Donald Trump campaigned for a second term in the White House last year, he pledged to revoke that, citing false claims about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pets. Last month, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, announced the Trump administration revoked the renewal, putting more than 500,000 Haitians in the U.S. on track to face deportation this summer.
The decision threatens to uproot more than 70,000 people in New Jersey, home to the fourth-largest Haitian population in the nation.
Natacha Clesca of the West Orange Human Rights Commission said she’s concerned about people who are being unlawfully removed from the United States while protections are still in place. When people are deported, she said, they are often registered with criminal charges that prevent them from returning to the country through legal channels.
Another woman said she sees ICE questioning people about their immigration status at Newark airport, where she works.
“This is why we are at such a precarious and dangerous moment, and I think it’s important for the people to see this is not some normal time,” Kim said. “This is not some usual type of action. We are in a constitutional crisis moment right now as a country.”
The Trump administration has been battling federal judges around the nation on everything from its plan to slash the federal workforce to its push to deport undocumented immigrants. The legal fights have led some Republicans to push for impeaching the judges, calls that earned a rebuke from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Kim in Maplewood on Wednesday urged attendees to pay attention to this year’s gubernatorial race, noting that some states are cooperating with the federal government to ramp up immigration enforcement efforts. New Jersey operates under what’s called the Immigrant Trust Directive — a 2018 order from the state attorney general that bars local authorities from aiding federal immigration agents — that Kim noted could be struck down by the next governor (Gov. Phil Murphy is barred from seeking a third term in November).
“That’s a very important question to ask the different candidates that are going to run because they will have, in the general election, very different answers in terms of their willingness to work with the Trump administration, especially when it comes to immigration,” he said.
Kim said he’s holding these kinds of discussions with various constituencies, including Ukrainians, students, Latinos, and business owners. And he’s planning town halls in three Republican House districts in a push to highlight GOP lawmakers’ support of policies on government funding and Medicaid cuts. That’s how Democrats should fight back as they struggle with limited power in D.C., Kim said.
“These are my constituents as well, and if they’re not going to hear from their House representatives, they will hear from me, and I can hear from them,” he said. “Those are places where we can go on the offense and show where the problem is in our country in terms of who is allowing this type of dangerous action to continue.”
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