One of Boston's Haitian pioneers— Pastor Verdieu Leonda LaRoche— dead at age 78

One of the pioneering leaders of Boston's Haitian community has died.

Rev. Dr. Verdieu Leonda LaRoche, 78, died on May 5, according to his family. LaRoche was the founding pastor of the First Haitian Baptist Church of Boston, located on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester.

Born on February 12, 1940 in Cahesse, Au Trou du Nord, Haiti, LaRoche attended the Baptist Theological Seminary in Limbé, Haiti and began his ministries in his hometown after graduation. He married Marie Rose Obas.

Haitians face hurdles after protected status renewal delays

Thousands of Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. legally will face employment and travel hurdles because President Donald Trump's administration delayed the process of re-registering those with temporary protected status, Haitian community leaders and immigrant activists say.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will release details Thursday about the next steps for the 60,000 Haitians with the special status, an agency spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

Presidential insult adds to a long history of US injury to Haiti

The spiral of the current White House administration into the deepest depths of awfulness continued apace last week. The latest abomination, as bravely related by US Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois: the president’s expletive-laced rejection of people from African nations and Haiti in favor of Norwegians as his preferential immigrants at a White House meeting on immigration policy.

Trump's Haiti TPS decision slammed by Mass leaders

The main course at Tuesday's annual Thanksgiving luncheon to honor immigrants was cooked up by the Trump administration, which has elected to end Haitians' seven-year-old temporary protected status in the U.S. in July 2019.

While guests cleared their plates of stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, speaker after speaker in the Great Hall dug into the federal policy that was announced the night before.

A cruel strike at Haitians is latest White House outrage

Cruel. Heartless. Wrong. Counter-productive.

Choose your favorite adjective to describe the Trump administration’s plans to eliminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians impacted by the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake and subsequent disasters, including an ongoing cholera epidemic.

There’s one word that you won’t find many people using to describe the announcement that came on Monday evening, and that’s “surprising.” Is there anyone who actually believed that a White House led by this president would actually seek to do the right thing by Haiti?

Mass leaders assail Trump's decision to end Haitian TPS program

The main course at Tuesday's annual Thanksgiving luncheon to honor immigrants was cooked up by the Trump administration, which plans to end temporary protected status for Haitian nationals in the U.S. in July 2019. While guests cleared their plates of stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, speaker after speaker in the Great Hall of the State House dug into the Trump administration policy announced the night before.

Walsh cruises to re-election in Boston mayoral race

Mayor Martin Walsh staved off his first mayoral challenge in decisive fashion on Nov. 7, defeating City Councillor Tito Jackson by more than 30 points, according to unofficial results from the city. In Dorchester, Walsh’s margin of victory mirrored his citywide success: He won his home neighborhood with 65 percent of the vote to Jackson’s 34 percent, according to a Reporter review of precinct returns.

Baker, Mass Senate urge TPS extension for Haitians, other foreign nationals

Gov. Charlie Baker and state lawmakers are calling on the Trump administration to continue temporary immigration protections for people who fled their home countries during periods of instability.

The Senate on Wednesday adopted a resolution calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to continue the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, Haitian and Honduran nationals living in the United States.

Walsh dominates in Round One

Mayor garners 62 percent, Jackson 29; turnout is low

Incumbent Boston Mayor Martin Walsh scored a landslide, first-round victory in Tuesday’s preliminary election, overwhelming his chief challenger, City Councillor Tito Jackson, by taking 62 percent of the overall vote in a four-person field. Walsh and Jackson, who earned 29 percent of the vote, will advance to the Nov. 7 final election.

Feds charge former US Army Colonel with conspiracy, fraud in Boston-based bribery sting

A Haitian-American man from Maryland has been arrested and charged for bribery and fraud after an undercover FBI investigation into "certain Haitian-American businessmen who were offering to facilitate bribes to high-level officials in the Haitian government."

The US Attorney's Office in Massachusetts said that Joseph Baptiste, 64, was arrested and charged with conspiring to bribe senior officials in Haiti, and "to launder funds for that purpose, in connection with a planned $84 million port development project in that country." He is alleged to have solicited bribes from a pair of undercover FBI agents working in Boston.

Boston Haitian Reporter

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