Tag - haitian

Sirena Prosper has spent almost her entire life in South Florida. Family members say she arrived from the Bahamas as a baby, six or seven months old, built a salon business in Pompano Beach, and raised seven children here, six of them U.S. citizens. Last week, ICE agents arrested her near that business, in front of her children. She is now locked in a women’s detention center in Louisiana.⁠ ⁠ On Tuesday night, faith leaders and relatives held a candlelight vigil they called “Stand Up for Sirena.” Organizers with Faith in Florida and Faith in Action said the case is not only about status. “It is about a mother and her children, a business owner and her community, and a family facing the possibility of being separated from one another,” they wrote in a statement seeking her release. Three of her children are still minors.⁠ ⁠ From detention, Prosper told WSVN she is grateful people showed up. “I’m happy that I have supporters, family, friends that are fighting for me,” she said. “My hope is that I can return home to my kids, my family.” Cousin Alexandra Francois said the children keep asking when their mother is coming back. “Answers can’t be answered due to the fact that we don’t know the circumstances.”⁠ ⁠ ICE’s account is harsher. A spokesman told WLRN that Prosper is “a criminal illegal alien from Haiti” arrested in a targeted operation, with convictions that include burglary of a residence, resisting an officer, larceny, and burglary. The agency said she entered legally, later adjusted status, and was ordered removed by an immigration judge on Jan. 9, 2002. ICE said she will stay in custody until she is deported.⁠ ⁠ Prosper disputes that portrait. “No, I’m not a criminal. I have one charge, and that was 25 years ago, and I did my duty. I did my time,” she told 7News. Relatives and vigil organizers say U.S. immigration files list Haiti as her birthplace even though the family says she came from the Bahamas — leaving it unclear, they argue, which country she would even be sent to.⁠ ⁠ 🎥 @WSVN⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Estephanie Charles has arrived on one of the world’s most watched international beauty stages as Miss Grand Haiti 2026, carrying both the Haitian flag and a message she says is larger than the crown.⁠ ⁠ Charles, known as @Haitiangoddess31, is Haiti’s official representative at the 14th Miss Grand International pageant, now underway in Thailand. The grand final is scheduled for October 10 at MGI Hall in Bangkok, where reigning titleholder Emma Tiglao of the Philippines is expected to crown her successor.⁠ ⁠ Charles is 26 and in 2024 she represented Haiti at Miss Earth, giving her prior experience with interviews, national presentation, and the pressure of competing far from home.⁠ On her official Miss Grand International profile, she presents herself as a creator first: a designer who draws, sews, styles, and turns ideas into finished fashion. She describes herself as adaptable, multilingual, and comfortable working across cultures.⁠ ⁠ Miss Grand International has built its brand around a campaign titled “Stop the War and Violence.” Charles has not treated that slogan as decoration. She has made it personal. Coming from Haiti and having lived among different cultures, she writes that she has seen how violence tears through families, especially women and children. For her, the campaign is a call for humanity: peace, empathy, respect, unity, dialogue, compassion, and a future that does not repeat the same damage.⁠ ⁠ That framing is the most important thing the public should know about this run. Charles is not asking audiences only to admire a look. She is asking them to hear Haiti through a language the pageant itself claims to value. In a year when Haitian communities at home and abroad continue to live with insecurity, displacement, and political fracture, a delegate who chooses peace and unity as her public thesis is making a deliberate statement.⁠ ⁠ 🎥 @misshaitiacademy⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

It’s game day for the Grenadiers! 🇭🇹⚽️ Haiti returns to international action tonight, facing Trinidad and Tobago in its opening match of the 2026–27 Concacaf Nations League at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. The match also marks David Badia’s first competitive game as head coach of the Haitian national team. Haiti enters a League A group that also includes Costa Rica, Curaçao, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The top two teams in the group will advance to the Nations League quarterfinals, and this competition also serves as a qualifier for the 2027 Concacaf Gold Cup. For Haitian fans in Jamaica and across the diaspora, tonight is another chance to get behind the blue and red. The FHF has been calling on supporters to fill Sabina Park and bring the energy for the Grenadiers. WHERE TO WATCH 📍 Sabina Park — Kingston, Jamaica 📅 Thursday, September 24 ⏰ 8:20 p.m. — Kingston, Haiti & South Florida 🇺🇸 USA: FOX Soccer Plus | ViX Premium | Fubo 🌎 Concacaf App/YouTube — where availab Where are you watching Haiti vs. Trinidad and Tobago tonight? Credits: @caleb_jephte #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Maison Hadascha presented Diplomatic Immunity at New York Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2027, bringing its vision of Caribbean-American luxury to one of fashion’s most visible stages.⁠ ⁠ Founder and creative director Hadascha Volny called the moment incredible and deeply personal. Rooted in her Haitian heritage and shaped by global experience, the house unveiled a luxury capsule from its Yacht Swim & Lounge label a collection built around a woman who moves across borders with ease: powerful, feminine, cultured, elegant, and never afraid to be seen.⁠ ⁠ @Hdaschaprive is a Haitian-American fashion house known for refined resort, swim, and lounge dressing. Volny has spent more than a decade building that world, from early yacht-inspired capsules to a three-label maison: Luxury Resort ready-to-wear, Yacht Label Lounge & Swim, and Cruise Knit Couture.⁠ ⁠ The brand’s woman does not simply arrive. She imprints. The clothes are designed for yacht decks, beach clubs, private villas, and travel pieces meant to carry presence, not chase a trend.⁠ ⁠ That language was already on the international radar after Maison Hadascha’s Yacht Label Swim & Lounge presentation at Miami Swim Week 2025 at the Mondrian Hotel, where the house was noted for sculpted silhouettes and a sensuality that did not depend on overexposure. ⁠ ⁠ Diplomatic Immunity mixes bold animal prints with black, ivory, burnt orange, and gold. Statement hardware, sculptural construction, fluid movement, and modest yet sensual silhouettes give the clothes structure and unmistakable presence.⁠ ⁠ Volny collaborated with Haitian artist and sculptor Patrick Noze of Noze Art Studio, who created custom sculptural pieces for the presentation a pairing of fashion and fine art from two Haitian-American creators.⁠ ⁠ Volny has described the SS27 presentation as more than a collection. It was a celebration of her heritage, her journey, and the Maison Hadascha woman: assured in her style, expressive in her femininity, and confident wherever she goes.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian

Olivier Martelly, eldest son of former Haitian President Michel Martelly, registered as a voter on Wednesday, September 23, in Côtes-de-Fer (Kòtdefè), a coastal commune in Haiti’s Sud-Est department. Local reports and social media video from the scene show him completing the process at a registration center, using a tablet and documents alongside electoral staff. Residents gathered to greet him.⁠ ⁠ Côtes-de-Fer has documented family connections to the Martellys. Michel Martelly was born there. The visit occurred during Haiti’s ongoing nationwide voter registration drive. The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) launched operations in stages starting July 20–21, in most departments and July 30 in the West Department. Eligible citizens must present a valid National Identification Card. As of September 21, the CEP reported more than 628,755 voters registered, over 10% of the potential electorate holding ID cards, with 1,285 Registration and Polling Centers (CIVs) operational. Several departments, including the Sud-Est, had high rates of functioning centers.⁠ ⁠ Olivier Martelly is a kopa musician who has performed and recorded for years. He is one of four children of Michel Martelly and Sophia Saint-Rémy Martelly. Haiti has not held national elections since 2016. The current process aims toward a first round scheduled for December 13, 2026, amid security challenges, institutional delays, and international involvement. Voter registration remains open as the CEP continues operations and candidate filings.⁠ ⁠ Sources: Cotes de Fer⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian

Two weeks after classes resumed, a new wave of student abductions has deepened fear among families in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. On Friday morning, September 18, at least five students were abducted in Bois-Verna, in the stretch between Camelo and Dufort streets near Lalue, according to multiple on-the-ground reports cited by Haitian media. Three of the children are believed to be from the same family. They were reportedly on their way to school when armed individuals in a vehicle intercepted them. Exact circumstances and the full identities of the victims have not been independently confirmed. The incident has left relatives and neighbors in the area waiting for news. Several family members said they still had no reliable information on the children’s whereabouts days later. The Bois-Verna abductions follow a similar attack on September 9 in Delmas 75, where two schoolgirls and their driver were taken while traveling to class. Media outlets have also noted additional recent cases involving schoolchildren in Lalue and other parts of the capital that were once considered relatively less exposed. At the time of those reports, Haiti’s National Police had not issued a detailed public statement on the Bois-Verna case or announced specific operations to recover the students. Authorities had previously promised extra security measures around the start of the school year. The latest kidnappings have raised questions about whether those deployments are reaching the routes students actually use. Kidnapping for ransom remains a persistent tool of armed groups in and around Port-au-Prince. Students traveling between home and school have become frequent targets, adding another layer of risk to an education system already strained by gang control of large parts of the capital, school closures, and displacement. Families describe a climate in which the simple act of sending children to class now carries visible danger. The fate of the five students taken in Bois-Verna had not been publicly resolved. Relatives and community members continue to press for their safe return and for more consistent protection along school routes. #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Montreal-born artist Greezy is bringing his Haitian roots into his music, mixing konpa with R&B, Afropop and rap. His songs move between French, English and Creole, with love and relationships at the center of his sound. ⁠ ⁠ @yoboygreezy released his nine-track EP 9 De Cœur in April and performed at Montreal’s La Sala Rossa in July. His music has also appeared on Spotify playlists, including RADAR Canada and New Music Friday Canada. ⁠ ⁠ Now, he’s promoting a track called “MOOD.” For listeners who enjoy konpa with a modern R&B feel, Greezy is an artist to get to know. 🇭🇹⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Dominican authorities have confirmed the death of Andy Louissaint, a 47-year-old U.S. citizen of Haitian origin, whose body was discovered Monday, September 14, concealed beneath a staircase and sealed with concrete and adhesive inside a clothing-bale business in the Buenos Aires de Herrera sector of Santo Domingo Oeste. Louissaint had been reported missing after leaving the apartment where he was staying on Thursday, September 10. He told a person close to him that he was going to a commercial plaza to meet a man identified as Martínez and did not return. Relatives filed a missing-person report with police by Saturday, September 12. Police spokesman Diego Pesqueira said the body was located around midday on September 14 at Martínez Fashion e Import (also reported as Martínez Fashion Import), a store that imports used clothing (pacas) and conducts other commercial activity. Firefighters and rescue personnel helped extract the remains, which had been “practically sealed” under the stairs. The case was reclassified from a disappearance to a homicide and transferred to the Distrito Nacional homicides unit because preliminary findings indicate Louissaint was killed in that jurisdiction and his body later moved to Herrera. Two men were arrested on judicial orders: José Antonio Martínez Joseph, 41, identified in some accounts as the store owner and of Haitian nationality, and Juan Gabriel Marte Ramírez, 26, a Dominican store manager or assistant. Police said Martínez Joseph has acknowledged participation and stated he inflicted a wound with a bladed weapon. The official cause of death awaits the autopsy by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF). Investigators seized three vehicles and multiple cellphones, including devices belonging to the victim. Authorities have not publicly confirmed a motive. Dominican press and social media have circulated surveillance footage purportedly showing two men transporting Louissaint. Some local commentary noted that Louissaint produced social-media content criticizing gangs, corruption, and conditions in Haiti; police have not linked that activity to the killing. 🎥 Somos Pueblo Media #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Haiti's transitional government has retained veteran Republican operative Roger Stone to represent its interests in Washington, according to a filing made public last week with the U.S. Justice Department.⁠ ⁠ The contract runs through Drake Ventures LLC, the Fort Lauderdale lobbying firm Stone owns with his wife, Nydia. Haiti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship signed on to pay the firm for "advisory and representation services" before the U.S. government, with the deal worth $780,000 over the one-year contract, which was signed September 2 working out to $65,000 a month. ⁠ ⁠ Stone registered the arrangement with the Justice Department's FARA unit on September 16, listing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Haiti as the foreign principal, with the stated purpose being "issue advocacy on behalf of the foreign principal to the US Government." The filing does not spell out whether the work will center on elections, security assistance, or immigration policy. ⁠ ⁠ The hire lands at a fraught moment for Haiti. The country is under pressure to hold its first general elections in more than a decade, even as gangs continue to control large swaths of Port-au-Prince and kidnappings persist. It also comes weeks after a major blow to the Haitian diaspora in the U.S.: on June 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6–3 to let the Trump administration strip Temporary Protected Status from roughly 350,000 Haitians, ruling that courts have no authority to review the administration's termination decisions. ⁠ ⁠ Stone is no stranger to representing foreign and subnational governments in Trump's Washington. His firm registered under FARA in June to advise the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí on trade and economic development matters, and he has previously appeared in FARA filings tied to the Bahamas as well as Nigeria. Drake Ventures has also picked up clients ranging from Native American tribes to rare-earth mining interests, reflecting how figures close to Trump have leaned into their access since his reelection. Haiti's government has not issued a public statement on the Stone contract.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian

Konpa is taking over one of Miami’s biggest stages this Friday! 🇭🇹⁠ ⁠ Arly Larivière is bringing Konpa En Symphony to Kaseya Center on September 25 for the final stop of the show’s 2026 tour. The concert brings Haitian konpa together with a live symphony orchestra, giving familiar rhythms a new sound while keeping the energy fans love. ⁠ ⁠ The Miami performance is being billed as the first konpa concert at Kaseya Center, making it a notable moment for Haitian music in South Florida. Whether you’re coming to sing, dance or simply enjoy the music, this is a chance to experience konpa on an arena stage. ⁠ ⁠ Friday, September 25 | Doors open at 7 p.m. | Show starts at 8 p.m. Kaseya Center, Miami Tickets:⁠ Nulookmusic.com ⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

A 19-year-old University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student pleaded not guilty Monday to a fugitive from justice charge in the fatal stabbing of Corsairs freshman running back Marvins Antoine.⁠ ⁠ Chukwunonso Uzoma-Eze appeared in New Bedford District Court on Sept. 21, where he waived extradition and was ordered held without bail. He is expected to be transferred to Rhode Island within a week to face a murder charge in Antoine’s death, along with a planned felony assault charge in the wounding of another teammate.⁠ ⁠ Antoine, 18, a Boston native and Durfee High School graduate, was stabbed in the chest shortly after midnight Saturday, Sept. 19, in a Wendy’s parking lot on Charles Street in Providence. He was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital. Teammate Kensley Macean, 19, a freshman defensive back from Dighton, suffered non-life-threatening wounds to the head, neck, and left arm.⁠ ⁠ Providence police said the violence followed an altercation outside Mezzo Lounge, where Antoine, Macean, and other UMass Dartmouth football players had gone after Friday night’s home game against Framingham State. Officers said the club had reached capacity. A dispute involving a woman leaving the venue spilled across the street into the restaurant parking lot. Police have said there is no indication Uzoma-Eze knew Antoine or Macean before the encounter and that he is not a member of the football team.⁠ ⁠ He was arrested Saturday by UMass Dartmouth police. Defense attorney Jay Odunukwe described his client as a bright student with no criminal record who “goes to church with his family regularly,” adding that “the evidence will show eventually that he was basically minding his business.”⁠ ⁠ Antoine had just begun his first season at UMass Dartmouth. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, the former Durfee running back had not yet appeared in a collegiate game. Last year he earned All-Scholastic recognition and was nominated for the Otto Graham Award, given to a top senior among South Coast high schools. Friends and former teammates remembered him as a leader who looked out for younger players.⁠ ⁠ 🎥 WPRI 12 #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

A U.S. military aircraft left Port-au-Prince on Sunday, September 20, carrying 18 men accused in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. The group includes 17 former Colombian soldiers and Joseph Félix Badio, a former Haitian Justice Ministry official long identified by Haitian investigators as a central figure in the plot. They arrived in Miami to face federal charges in the Southern District of Florida.⁠ ⁠ U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones confirmed the transfer, writing that 18 defendants were “transported in military plane from Haiti to face American justice.” He said 30 people have now been indicted in the case and that prosecutors are “not finished.” Haiti’s Justice Minister Patrick Pelissier confirmed the handover, saying the plane carried the 17 Colombians and Badio, whom Haitian authorities have described as the plot’s “orchestra leader.”⁠ ⁠ The men boarded the gray military aircraft at Toussaint Louverture International Airport shortly before 11 a.m., dressed in light blue jumpsuits. They appeared in a Miami federal courtroom on Monday. Badio, 63, was brought in by wheelchair. The others arrived shackled. They face charges including conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death. Those offenses carry potential life sentences.⁠ ⁠ Moïse, 53, was shot dead in his bedroom at his private residence in Pétion-Ville on the night of July 6–7, 2021. His wife, Martine Moïse, was wounded but survived. The attack, carried out by a commando of mostly Colombian former soldiers, created a political vacuum that has fueled years of gang violence and displacement. U.S. prosecutors have long argued the plot was planned and financed in part from South Florida.⁠ ⁠ Several people have already been convicted in Miami. In May 2026, a federal jury found four men guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Moïse and providing material support for the plot. Others have pleaded guilty. The new transfers come days before the scheduled trial of Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a South Florida resident accused of seeking to replace Moïse as president.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican