Overview:
As mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to be sworn in, a number of Haitian American leaders have been tapped to serve on his transition committees. The story highlights the roles of figures resembling Stephanie Delia of Little Haiti BK, Kassandra Frederique of the Drug Coverage Alliance and others, whereas inspecting what their inclusion means for Haitian New Yorkers amid looming immigration considerations, together with the potential finish of Momentary Protected Standing.
Round late November, Stephanie Delia, govt director of Little Haiti BK, realized she had been advisable to then-Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition group to take a seat on the Committee for Immigrant Justice. Though uncertain of how she landed the place, Delia, an immigration lawyer, thought it was “sensible” to herald a variety of voices from throughout the immigrant group “to bridge the hole between election and first day.”
By the eve of Inauguration Day, Delia was near submitting a memo spotlighting her concern for Momentary Protecting Standing (TPS) recipients. She plans to incorporate info serving to immigrant mother and father whose protected standing will expire subsequent month to arrange for reunification with their youngsters preemptively.
“These points will have an effect on our group inside 30 days of your taking workplace,” she mentioned, studying from her draft report. “So, please, as you’re creating coverage, be certain that this doesn’t fall by means of the hole.”
Mamdani was officially sworn in as Mayor in an intimate midnight ceremony Jan.1 — forward of his occasions later within the day.
A public ceremony at Metropolis Corridor started at 1pm, Bernie Sanders formally swearing in Zoran Mamdani, preceded by the swearing in of Jumaane Williams as Public Advocate and Mark Levine as Metropolis Comptroller. Most of the people was invited to a “2026 NYC Inauguration Block Occasion” going down on Broadway. However, by 12:30 pm, the road to enter the social gathering stretched 9 blocks, all the best way to Chambers Avenue.
A passerby mentioned, “Everybody’s so quiet.” That may have been from the chilly—temperatures dipped into the low 20s. One group of pals shaped a human chain as they pushed by means of a slim hole between jackets and coats heading to the entrance of the road the place many waited over an hour to get in.
Within the lead-up to that assumption of energy, his group recruited over 400 members filling 17 committees tasked with advising on hiring and coverage points.
Consistent with the communication fashion that helped win him the election, the media-savvy Mamdani constructed a transition site itemizing the individuals working with him to create his administration. Six New Yorkers recognized to be of Haitian or of Haitian descent are on that listing:
- Stephanie Delia, a former practising immigration lawyer earlier than main the beleaguered Little Haiti BK, for the Committee on Immigrant Justice
- Jocelyn McCalla, of the Haitian-American Foundation for Democracy, for the Committee on Immigrant Justice
- Anthonine Pierre, previously of the Brooklyn Movement Center, who announced on Dec. 31 that she’s stepping down from the Committee on Neighborhood Organizing.
- Jacques Léandre, a associate on the LMV Law Group, for the Committee on Authorized Affairs
- Sienna Fontaine of Make the Road, for the Committee on Social Providers
- Kassandra Frederique, of the Drug Policy Alliance, for the Committee on Neighborhood Security.
Different Haitian Individuals with out official roles on the transition group embrace Patrick Gaspard, the previous ambassador to South Africa underneath Obama and distinguished senior fellow on the Middle for American Progress. Previous to that, he was an aide to David Dinkins on the late mayor’s 1989 marketing campaign and an advisor to Invoice de Blasio in 2013. The Metropolis Corridor Free for All podcast said Gaspard has been advising Mamdani all through his marketing campaign.
Mamdani, “doing the proper factor” to transition
Mamdani’s addition of Haitians to his groups follows a number of appearances through the mayoral marketing campaign and an unforgettable look in early summer season, whereas many elected Haitian American officers had been nonetheless backing Andrew Cuomo.
In June, Mamdani shocked a packed Barclay’s Middle BAYO followers when he took the mic from frontrunner Michael Brun.
“As the following mayor of this metropolis, I shall be proud to face up for Haitian New Yorkers each single day,” he mentioned on the time.
“We’re going to struggle to get Haiti off the journey ban,” he promised. “We’re going to struggle Donald Trump when he tries to finish TPS. And we’re going to face up for Haiti since you taught the world about freedom.”
Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the forty second District consultant and Brooklyn Democratic Occasion chief, mentioned Mamdani is beginning on an excellent footing. She can also be considered one of Mamdani’s 100 Elected Officers cohort of allies — as are Haitian American Metropolis Council members Rita Joseph, Farah N. Louis and Mercedes Narcisse.
“Mamdani is doing the proper factor,” she mentioned. “He understands the importance of the Haitian Individuals particularly as a result of he is aware of that we have now a big variety of elected officers within the State Meeting in addition to within the metropolis council.
“He has seen along with his personal two eyes the plenty,” Bichotte Hermelyn added.
Bichotte Hermelyn additionally remarked on different outstanding Haitian leaders in Mamdani’s orbit.
Defending Haitians from deportations nonetheless the important thing query
Bichotte Hermelyn additionally spoke approvingly of the brand new administration’s plans to guard immigrants, together with Haitians involved in regards to the looming Feb 3 TPS deadline.
When requested whether or not she thinks the town’s sanctuary standing is secure underneath Mamdani’s management, she replied, “Sure, 100%.”
And what of these afraid of deportation? How might she assist them? Bichotte Hermelyn responded that they’ve a system in place.
“We [are] already doing, we have now a response, speedy response,” referring to the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative underneath the Mayor’s Workplace of Immigrant Affairs. It isn’t clear, nevertheless, if the Adams-era initiative will stay in place or be modified, given federal authorities’ ramped-up mass deportation efforts.
Porez Luxama, govt director of Life of Hope, a Haitian group heart in Brooklyn, mentioned he believes in Mamdani’s imaginative and prescient however is ready to see who he’ll appoint to high metropolis authorities roles. He’s significantly excited about seeing plans to assist Haitian immigrants affected by the top of Momentary Protected Standing on Feb. 3.
“What’s the plan for these households?” Luxama requested of the households who stay after the protected standing deadline. He’s been looking for out if the Mayor’s Workplace of Immigrant Affairs has a plan, however he mentioned the vacations have left many staff out on trip and telephones unanswered.
Nonetheless, he’s “very very optimistic,” Luxama wish to see a brand new authorities place centered explicitly on the Haitian diaspora.
He identified that figures like Jacques Jiha or Patrick Gaspard, who “are nice at what they do,” will not be working at a metropolis job or a transition committee particularly on a Haitian agenda. Jiha, Luxama mentioned, was “probably the greatest the town had ever seen,” managing the town’s price range, however for the Haitians in New York Metropolis.
Luxama mentioned, “They’re nonetheless struggling; their budgets haven’t been elevated.” So for him, simply because you will have “six, seven, 10, 20 Haitians” on a transition committee, “is just not necessary.” He mentioned, “They’re not there to serve Haitians particularly; they’re there to advise him on the very best for the town.”
As a substitute of assigning Haitians to advisory teams or metropolis jobs, Porez means that the town create a deputy advisor position centered on the actual wants of the Haitian diaspora.
“The necessity of the Haitians is exclusive,” he mentioned. “So they could need to have a particular any individual advising significantly for the Haitian group, appearing as a liaison or as a deputy, particularly to see how you can advance the Haitian wants, particularly the TPS.”
Being in a transition station
In response to a Metropolis & State report, transition committees are in place till Jan. 30. Most have had one in-person kickoff assembly and the remainder of their communications are over electronic mail and Zoom.
Delia mentioned on her committee, she has been requested to suggest individuals who is likely to be an excellent match with the brand new administration’s objectives of “making the town reasonably priced for New Yorkers, no matter their nation [of origin].” She additionally fielded coverage questions.
The committee comprised a broad vary of people who generally go ignored in an enormous metropolis’s authorities.
“It feels as if maybe the need is to present entry to a various group of individuals in order that, as they’re constructing out their plan, they’re getting info from sufficient sources to possibly cowl their blind spots,” Delia mentioned.
“I don’t know if our suggestions are reviewed any otherwise from anyone who applies by themselves,” she added.