Migrants from Haiti walk across the Zaragoza-Ysleta international border bridge after being deported from the United States, in Ciudad Juarez. Photo via Reuters

North Miami, FL — After completing an arduous, 5,000-mile trek from Brazil to the U.S. and being among those first released to family members, one asylum seeker found himself fretting at the offices of Sant La - the Haitian Neighborhood Center on a recent Tuesday afternoon. In the young man’s mind, he had made a mistake that could potentially make his journey be for nothing. He had missed a court date. 

“That doesn’t make me feel good,” said the asylum seeker, a soft-spoken 20-year-old, in Creole while sitting in the Sant La office speaking with The Haitian Times. “If I spoke English, this mistake wouldn’t have happened.”

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Email me at onz@haitiantimes.com
Onz Chery is a Haiti correspondent for The Haitian Times. Chery started his journalism career as a City College of New York student with The Campus. He later wrote for First Touch, local soccer leagues in New York and Elite Sports New York before joining The Haitian Times in 2019.

Sam is a reporter for The Haitian Times and a 2020 Report for America corps member. He has covered Haiti and its diaspora since 2018. His work has also appeared in USA Today, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Haiti Liberte. Sam can be reached at sam@haitiantimes.com or on Twitter @sambojarski.