Haitian Bridge Alliance welcomes Maryland immigrant rights task force
Governor Wes Moore’s executive order creates a 12-month statewide task force to protect immigrants from fraud, exploitation and discrimination.
NEW YORK, United States. The Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), based in San Diego, California, has applauded Maryland Governor Wes Moore for signing an executive order establishing the Maryland Immigrant Rights Protection Task Force.
Mr Moore said the statewide initiative aims to protect Caribbean and other immigrant communities from fraud, exploitation and discrimination, bringing together state agencies, the Attorney General’s Office and other leaders.
‘A powerful message’
“The executive order comes at a critical time as immigrant communities across the country face increasingly sophisticated scams and exploitation by individuals seeking to take advantage of vulnerable populations,” HBA executive director Guerline Jozef told Caribbean Life.
She said the task force was also a response to what she called “the Trump administration’s draconian and racist policies targeting and persecuting immigrants.”
“This executive order sends a powerful message that immigrants deserve dignity, safety, and equal protection under the law,” she said.
The governor’s order
Mr Moore noted that immigrants make up about 17 per cent of Maryland’s population and nearly 22 per cent of its labour force.
“More recently, immigrant communities have reported the emergence of new schemes targeting immigrants for exploitation and abuse, as unscrupulous actors seek to take advantage of immigrants’ fear of immigration enforcement,” he said.
The task force, chaired by the governor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, will work with the Office of the Attorney General and the Comptroller’s Office on legal services scams, workplace rights, housing, and consumer and civil rights. Mr Moore said it would be the first of its kind at state level.
Earlier this year he signed legislation designating schools and hospitals as safe spaces and barring state and local jurisdictions from deputising officers for federal civil immigration enforcement. In February he wrote to then Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem raising concerns about a planned ICE detention warehouse near Williamsport.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said Caribbean and other immigrant communities are “particularly vulnerable to wage theft, housing scams and workplace abuse in the current political climate.”
Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman said: “Every Marylander deserves to be treated fairly, to understand their rights and to be protected from fraud and exploitation.”
