Haitian pastor, Molis Augustave faces deportation to Haiti despite pending green card application

A Haitian pastor and father of two detained during a traffic stop earlier this month could be deported to Haiti as soon as Thursday, even as a petition to adjust his immigration status remains pending, advocates said.

Molis Augustave, who leads a congregation in York County, was pulled over on Sept. 4 for a broken taillight and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after agents discovered a years-old removal order, according to his wife and immigrant-rights groups tracking the case.

Augustave has lived in the U.S. legally since 2016 and was working as a food-delivery driver for DoorDash, according to Miami Herald reporting. An asylum claim he filed was denied in 2020, and an appeal failed, but he remained shielded from removal under Temporary Protected Status, a status the Trump administration later terminated.

We Are CASA, the national immigrant-rights organization coordinating his legal defense, said Augustave has a pending I-485 green card application before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that would become void if he is removed, forcing him to restart the process from Haiti.

Ama Frimpong, the group’s chief of services and legal advocacy, said ICE has moved unusually fast in Augustave’s case and called on the agency to let the green card process run its course rather than “rush Molis out the door.” She and other advocates are asking Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, both Democrats, to press Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt the removal; We Are CASA said the governor’s office is reviewing the request.

Guerline Jozef, founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, has known Augustave since he arrived in the U.S. and has urged Christian congregations nationwide to press the administration on his behalf. She and other advocates argue that deportees are being returned to a country besieged by gang violence, mass displacement and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

ICE told the Miami Herald that Augustave was arrested Sept. 4 for being unlawfully present in the country and that he remains subject to a final order of removal. An agency spokesperson added that “being in detention is a choice,” pointing to a federal program offering migrants up to $3,000 and a free flight to leave the U.S. voluntarily.

Augustave’s wife, Omara Nunez, a U.S. citizen, said the arrest has been hard on their two young children, including a 2-year-old son who she said now waits by the door for his father to come home.

The case is one of at least three high-profile ICE detentions of Haitian pastors in recent months and comes as deportation flights to Haiti have increased to about once a week. More than 410 people, including seven U.S.-born children, have been sent back to Haiti since July, among them 113 former TPS holders, according to Haitian government figures cited by the Herald. Pennsylvania is home to an estimated 15,000 Haitian nationals who lost work authorization and deportation protection when TPS ended.