Many North Carolina families spent Thursday circled around a big table and probably a big turkey. Some of these turkeys likely came from Butterball, the largest turkey processing plant in the world located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. The town struggled to get back on track after the recession until an influx of Haitian immigrants moved to the area in 2010 attracted by work at Butterball.
The idea was that even thought these Haitians in the U.S. were here working illegally, there's really no economy for them to go back to in Haiti. It would be even more of a humanitarian crisis if they were sent back.
These 1,500 Haitian immigrants moved to Mount Olive under temporary protected status from the U.S. government after an earthquake in Haiti. In November 2017, the Trump administration moved to end that protected status given to tens of thousands of Haitians.
If they succeed, Haitian immigrants in the country under TPS will be deported next year, which would be a significant blow to the town of Mount Olive. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Damian Paletta, senior economics correspondent with The Washington Post, about his reporting on the Haitian community in Mount Olive.
