{"id":199,"date":"2026-04-15T19:40:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/?p=199"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:40:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:40:32","slug":"im-in-limbo-haitian-migrants-culinary-dreams-dashed-by-immigration-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/2026\/04\/15\/im-in-limbo-haitian-migrants-culinary-dreams-dashed-by-immigration-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m in Limbo\u2019: Haitian Migrants\u2019 Culinary Dreams Dashed by Immigration Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a small training kitchen in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Sadia Merisier stood over a cutting board, slicing vegetables while listening to instructions. Around her, other immigrants moved between stoves and prep tables, learning the rhythms and routine of a professional kitchen.<\/p>\n

For Merisier, each lesson imparted in the kitchen at Emma\u2019s Torch carries the weight of the journey that brought her here. In 2024, she and her nine-month-old daughter fled an area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, controlled by one of the FBI\u2019s most wanted gang leaders.<\/p>\n

She came to New York through a federal C.H.N.V. parole program that permitted immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the country temporarily and apply for work authorization. The program, launched in January 2023, allowed over 200,000 Haitians, among others, to live and work in the U.S. for up to two years after they secured a U.S.-based sponsor and passed security checks.<\/p>\n

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Once here, she found temporary work at Nathan\u2019s Famous in Coney Island before joining the training program for immigrants at Emma\u2019s Torch.\u00a0After being unable to afford to finish culinary school in Haiti, Merisier now imagines a future she once believed impossible.<\/p>\n

But restaurant staff like Merisier, who depend on government-sponsored work authorization, are finding their employment futures uncertain. As part of its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration in recent months has targeted the two programs \u2014 C.H.N.V. parole and Temporary Protected Status \u2014 that allow Haitian immigrants to work and live legally in the U.S. because of the dangerous situation in their home country.<\/p>\n

The policy shift has already affected more than 350,000 Haitian TPS holders and thousands in the parole program. The fight to preserve these protections has wound its way to the Supreme Court, leaving thousands of Haitian workers in New York without firm answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a stressful situation,\u201d said Marcia Tertulien, 22, who arrived in January 2024 under the same parole program as Merisier. \u201cI can find a job, but they\u2019ll refuse to hire me because of the work permit situation. I\u2019m in limbo. I don\u2019t really know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI can find a job, but they\u2019ll refuse to hire me because of the work permit situation. I\u2019m in limbo. I don\u2019t really know what to do.\u201d\u2014Marcia Tertulien, 22<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI can find a job, but they\u2019ll refuse to hire me because of the work permit situation. I\u2019m in limbo. I don\u2019t really know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurants and training programs for these workers similarly face a challenging decision: do they continue hiring and investing in immigrants who are passionate about working in food service, even if they could soon lose their ability to work legally in the United States?<\/p>\n

\u201cThese folks are the core of any restaurant,\u201d said Fred Raphael, owner of Rebel Restaurant and Bar, in Manhattan. \u201cWithout the back end, you don\u2019t have restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each morning, Merisier leaves her apartment in the Flatlands neighborhood in Brooklyn and travels more than an hour across the borough for her training. Inside the kitchen classroom at Emma\u2019s Torch, immigrant students learn the basic skills needed to work in professional kitchens: knife techniques, cooking methods, measurements and reading recipes.<\/p>\n

Emma\u2019s Torch, founded in 2016, provides culinary training and job placement to refugees and asylees, many of whom go on to work in New York\u2019s restaurant industry.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, the program\u2019s senior director of culinary education, Alex Harris, has watched the nationalities of students shift as conflicts and immigration policies change. Over the years, he said, the classroom has reflected global events and changes in U.S. immigration policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really feel changes in administration and policy because of who you see coming into the program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For training programs like this one, legal work authorization is essential. Participants must have it before entering the program because students are paid during training.<\/p>\n

When Tertulien first came to the U.S. two years ago from Haiti, she enrolled in English classes at a YMCA, where a staff member encouraged her to apply to the Emma\u2019s Torch program.<\/p>\n

\u201cCooking is something I love,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m passionate about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tertulien graduated in December 2024 and quickly found a job at a Brooklyn restaurant. But the stability proved temporary.<\/p>\n

Immediately upon taking office in January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order to end the C.H.N.V. parole program. Two months later, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formally terminated the program. After a brief court pause, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to proceed with revoking parole and associated work permits.<\/p>\n

Tertulien had applied for Temporary Protected Status, which allowed her to continue working while her case was pending. Now, that status is uncertain.<\/p>\n

In June 2025, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of TPS for Haiti with the change set to take effect on Feb. 3. Just one day before the deadline, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked the termination with a preliminary injunction. In the meantime, Haitian TPS holders have been able to keep their legal status and work authorization while the case moves forward.<\/p>\n

The dispute is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has allowed the lower court\u2019s freeze to remain in place for now and will hear arguments in April 2026, with a decision expected by early summer.<\/p>\n

Tertulien\u2019s ability to keep working depends on that decision.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI know that as soon as they see my status, they won\u2019t hire me.\u201d\u2014Michel Pierre, 48<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI know that as soon as they see my status, they won\u2019t hire me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michel Pierre, 48, followed a similar path. He arrived in the U.S. from Haiti under the C.H.N.V. parole program, first settling in Florida before moving to New York in search of better opportunities. After graduating from Emma\u2019s Torch in 2025, Pierre found work at a restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

But his work authorization expired months ago, and he is still waiting for a response to his application for Temporary Protected Status.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am living with a lot of stress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He has stopped applying for new jobs altogether. He now remains in his current job, doing work that does not reflect the culinary training he completed, because he believes other employers will reject him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that as soon as they see my status, they won\u2019t hire me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For some restaurant owners, the uncertainty has already changed how they run their businesses. \u201cAs of right now, it\u2019s extremely difficult,\u201d said Raphael, the owner of Rebel\u2019s Restaurant. \u201cI haven\u2019t been able to bring on board anyone else, due to the uncertainty of the TPS program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raphael said the consequences of a sudden policy shift could be immediate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that were to happen, I will just close, just that simple,\u201d he said, referring to a potential end to TPS protections. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have time to rehire, and my restaurants would definitely be closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Emma\u2019s Torch, graduates typically begin searching for jobs before the program ends \u2014 preparing resumes, practicing for interviews and applying to restaurants. But outside the classroom, immigration policy still has them in a chokehold.<\/p>\n

For immigrants like Merisier, Tertulien and Pierre, the kitchen represents stability after years of fear. But their ability to remain in those jobs depends on a shifting legal landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a valid work permit, but sometimes it feels like it may not have any value,\u201d said Merisier, who applied for TPS and later for asylum through which she obtained a work permit. \u201cI live with constant fear that when I\u2019m on my way to work, immigration officers might arrest me and I might not be able to see my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each morning, before sunrise, she takes the subway, traveling across Brooklyn to continue learning the craft she hopes will support her family.\u00a0 She dreams of being a chef at a five-star restaurant or luxury hotel, and one day owning a bakery in Haiti.<\/p>\n

Gov. Hochul Moves to Block City Bill Banning 24-hour Home Care Shifts: Sources Say<\/h4>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a passion I want to turn into a career,\u201d she said. \u201cI want people to feel something when they taste my food.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as Merisier continues to pursue that dream, the political climate surrounding immigration in the United States has added a new layer of uncertainty. Whether she, and many other Haitian immigrants like her will be allowed to build lasting careers in the country remains uncertain.<\/p>\n

Inside the kitchen where Merisier trains, the rules are clear. Recipes must be followed. Ingredients must be measured carefully. Teams must work together to prepare each dish. Outside of the kitchen, the rules that will determine whether she can stay and work in the United States are still being decided.<\/p>\n\n

Fuente original: Documented NY<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Employers in New York restaurants are growing hesitant to hire Haitian immigrants as uncertainty around work authorization intensifies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthony.mlcnueva.com\/noticias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}