St. Louis immigrant providers are worried for area Haitians and Syrians more than eveR

By St. Louis Public Radio

Credit: Brian Munoz/St. Louis Public Radio

Agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in St. Louis on Feb. 6, 2025. An agency spokeswoman said the raid was not immigration related. The Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration can rescind Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian nationals, which could put many in St. Louis at risk of deportation.

Hundreds more refugees and immigrants in the St. Louis region could soon be at risk for deportation this fall, since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration can rescind Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians.

The St. Louis area is home to hundreds of people from Haiti and Syria, two countries that are on the administration’s growing travel ban list.

The disruption alters families' lives and the communities they live and work in, said Kevin Kuehl, an immigrant coordinator at the Immigrant and Refugee Ministry.

“[New] immigrant laws are changing people's statuses,” Kuehl said. “They [immigrants] say ‘I'm worried about the possibility of me being deported and separated from my children,’ or ‘I'm worried about my children being deported and going back to a country where they don't have any opportunities, they don't have security, where there is gang violence, where maybe it's a country they don't even really know very well.’”

The Immigrant and Refugee Ministry has not served any new refugees or asylum seekers within the past year. With the administration’s harsh immigration enforcement, Kuehl said the organization’s leaders have been receiving calls from immigrants and refugees about options for their U.S.-born children if they are deported.

They suggest families start planning by attending power of attorney workshops and financial asset planning sessions, create wills and begin putting guardianship options in place for children.

The International Institute of St. Louis is worried for many Haitian and Syrian families living in the area under Temporary Protected Status, because its leaders have served many who remember living through violence, being imprisoned or knowing people who have been killed in their home countries.

The new ruling has direct implications for the entire Temporary Protected Status system and is cause for immediate concern, said Blake Hamilton, CEO of the International Institute of St. Louis.

“It's a major departure from our history of really providing a refuge to folks who are escaping persecution and unsafe conditions in their home country,” he said.

The ruling is set to go into effect in early September. It also affects Haitians' and Syrians' work permits, which end July 1, and puts them at risk of deportation. Temporary Protected Status is a federal deportation protection for people coming from specific countries that face humanitarian and natural crises.

Many Haitians and Syrians came to the U.S. after their countries suffered major natural disasters or they chose to flee from government takeovers and wars, which evoked violence throughout their country. About 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians with protected status live in the U.S. There are over a thousand Haitians and Syrians living in the metropolitan area.

Over the years of resettling families from war-torn countries, immigrant and refugee service providers in St. Louis have been a saving grace for them, Hamilton said.

“Haiti has been under a national state of emergency since 2024 and just last month there's reports of gang violence, leaving dozens dead and displacing thousands and there have been renewed clashes between armed groups and violence is forcing people to flee from their homes,” he said. “I don't think anybody could really argue that these are safe in-country conditions for people to return to. … It remains to be seen how the [Department of Homeland Security] secretary will use in-country conditions to determine the end of Temporary Protected Status or how people live in the country.”

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