NJ proposals for Haitian migrants draws focus of 2024 election

🔵NJ bill calls for free contraceptives for Haitian migrants

🔴Bill introduced as fake rumors target same population

🔵 NJ has long history of Haitian immigration

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A measure aimed at providing free contraceptives to Haitian immigrants in New Jersey has been seized upon by conservative blogs — at the same time migrants from the island nation have been maligned by fake stories amplified by former President Donald Trump and his running mate.

The “Reproductive Health Access for Haitian Migrants Act” was introduced last week by state Sen. Renee Burgess, D-Essex.

In June, an identical version was introduced in the lower house by Assemblywomen Shanique Speight, D-Essex, and Shama Haider, D-Bergen.

Democratic sponsors have proposed that state health officials — along with community health clinics — “ensure that all Haitian migrants have access to reproductive contraceptives at no cost.”

“Contraceptive options for Haitian migrants shall include, but shall not be limited to, intrauterine devices, birth control pills, and Depo-Provera injections,” according to the bill, as it was referred to committee.

The bill was immediately criticized by conservative social media accounts and websites, which wrongly said it specifically called for “free abortions.”

A separate bill introduced in June was the “Menstrual Equity for Haitian Migrants Act. That bill would provide free period products to Haitian migrants who arrived in New Jersey within the past two years.

About 46,000 Haitian migrants live in New Jersey, 6% of the state’s immigrant population, according to the June bill, citing the American Community Survey.

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Earlier this year, two proposed state measures urged aid for Haitian migrants while a separate measure sought to collect data on Haitian migrants in New Jersey to know how many “are in need of assistance.”

Haitian migrants flee earthqakes, gangs, other crises

In 2010, a catastrophic earthquake killed more than 220,000 Haitians, injured several thousand and left about 1.5 million homeless. Another earthquake in 2021 killed roughly 2,000 victims and pushed the economic crisis even further.

Migration from Haiti over the past few decades have sought to escape political instability, persecution, frequent economic crises and natural disasters that included both devastating earthquakes.

There was also a collapse of basic governmental functions and widespread gang violence, following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

There were nearly 731,000 Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. as of 2022, according to the Migration Policy Institute, making up the country’s 15th largest foreign-born population.

Haitians represented the fourth-largest Caribbean immigrant group in the U.S., after Cubans, Dominicans and Jamaicans.

Among all U.S. immigrants, Haitians have been more likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens, have achieved legal permanent residence (gotten a green card) through “family-based categories and work in service occupations,” according to analysis published by the Migration Policy Institute.

They are also less likely to have a college degree and tend to report lower household incomes, according to the November 2023 report, “Haitian Immigrants in the United States.”

Immigrants from Haiti have been highly concentrated in Florida, followed by New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia, the report last year.

Governor slams ‘false and hateful attacks’

“Nearly one in four New Jersey residents is an immigrant, while one in six residents is a
native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent,” according to the American Immigration Council.

On Tuesday, 50 new U.S. citizens were recognized at a Naturalization Ceremony at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. The new citizens from 26 countries included Haiti, as well as Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bulgaria, Chad, South Korea and Taiwan.

“Over the past few days, I’ve spoken to a number of Haitian American leaders from across the state,” Gov. Phil Murphy said on Tuesday in a post to X.

Specifically, Haitian migrants have been vilified after false stories of community members eating strangers’ pets, as Trump infamously repeated at the recent presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.

The rumors became widespread by Trump’s running mate and the ticket’s supporters, after a single incident involving a non-immigrant in Ohio, according to Politifact and other new outlets.

A 27-year-old woman born and raised in Canton, Ohio, was arrested for torturing and eating a cat.

She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, the New York Post reported.

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