York County pastor scheduled for deportation to Haiti as soon as Thursday, advocates announce

On Wednesday, advocates with We Are Casa announced during an emergency press conference that Pastor Molis Augustave, who was detained by immigration officials in York County earlier this month, could face deportation to Haiti as soon as Thursday.

Augustave was initially pulled over on Sept. 5 for a broken taillight, according to West Manchester Police. He was then arrested by ICE after it was discovered that he had a final removal order against him.

Augustave had been living in Pennsylvania for six years before the Trump administration removed the Temporary Protected Status of Haitian migrants.

In an email to FOX43, ICE officials said that Augustave initially encountered Border Patrol agents in 2016 for illegally entering the U.S. only to be later released. They add that an immigration judge later ordered him to leave the country in March 2018.

Now, advocates are calling on ICE to stop Augustave’s removal while he has a pending green card application with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

“We are asking for one thing: time,” said We Are CASA’s Chief of Services and Legal Advocacy Ama Frimpong. “Time for Pastor Molis’ I-485 green card application to be adjudicated. Time for due process to play out in a standard timeframe, not an expedited, punitive one designed to rush him onto a plane before anyone can review his case.”

Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, also called on ICE to end Augustave’s removal on Wednesday.

“Pastor Molis was one of the very first people who made me understand the need to create a home to welcome with dignity for people in search of safety and protection. He was a survivor of the Haiti earthquake and despite that he had a bright smile as he made sure people had a cup of noodles to eat,” said Jozeff. “It is a crime against the community to send him to Haiti, a country that is plagued with armed groups, political turmoil, where over 1.4 million people are internally displaced, at the verge of a famine. The racial profiling that brought him into custody is part of the larger ethnic cleansing of this administration, targeting Black and brown people.”

Advocates are also calling on Governor Josh Sapiro and Senator John Fetterman to tall DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to stop Augustave’s removal.

“I don’t know what can stop the federal government at this point, but Governor Shapiro has more power than all of us who know and love Pastor Molis does,” said We are CASA Pennsylvania Deputy Director Olga Galati, who discussed the case at the Pennsylvania State of the Union on Latino Health on Wednesday. “Please work your phones and ask Governor Shapiro to call Secretary Mullin now. We need Pastor Molis home here in Pennsylvania.”

“This administration is prioritizing speed and quotas over fairness and justice, family separation over family unity,” Frimpong said. “Pastor Molis deserves the same standard timeline that any other person with a pending green card application would receive. He should not be on that flight tomorrow morning.”