2,000 Haitian migrants celebrate first Thanksgiving as many still homeless

BOSTON — About 2,000 Haitian migrants celebrated their first Thanksgiving in the United States through an event organized by a local non-profit as many families are still unsure where they are going to sleep.

Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI) provided turkey dinners with Haitian sides including rice, beans, and fried plantains in a joyful feast at several locations across Massachusetts.

“I feel so excited. I feel at home,” said Remy Pierre at the IFSI office in Mattapan. “I feel very grateful and joyful, because, right now, we were singing together, we were dancing together. We feel the family lifestyle.”

Pierre has been in the country a couple of months and has shelter, but others he celebrated with don’t know where they will sleep each night. Alexis Regina Laguerre, who took pride partaking in an American holiday of gratitude, is a now homeless wife and mother of two.

“We’d love to find a place to stay because it’s four of us, and we don’t know where we’re going to sleep,” said Regina Laguerre.

Dr. Geralde Gabeau, executive director of IFSI, has helped thousands of migrants find housing initially in shelters and hotels, and she has coordinated jobs and other resources. But more housing is desperately needed, with up to 20 migrants sleeping on benches at Logan Airport in recent days and others in conference rooms at the state Transportation Department building, as the state’s shelter cap hits its maximum and lawmakers are at a stalemate over how to spend $250 million for emergency shelters.

“The cold weather is coming, and people are desperate to find a place,” Gabeau said. “And that’s one of the reasons why my call is to everyone, not just the state but also the legislature, to come together and pass this bill to open up more space for families.”

Haitian migrants are escaping gang violence, a food shortage, and job crisis in their homeland. Gabeau says these families cannot turn back, as more arrive every day.

“As long as the situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate, people will be coming, because they have no other place,” Gabeau said. “It’s a matter of life-and-death situation.”

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