San Diego: Two Haitian parents arrested near Elementary School following end of TPS

Federal immigration agents arrested two Haitian parents near John Marshall Elementary School in the City Heights neighborhood on the morning of Sept. 9, according to ABC affiliate KGTV/10News and public broadcaster KPBS.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the following day that the parents arrested were James Mervil and Josselene Polidor, both Haitian nationals, and said the arrests were part of a targeted immigration enforcement operation. DHS said the couple entered the United States legally in August 2022 near Hidalgo, Texas, but remained after their authorized stay expired.

DHS said agents attempted a traffic stop on the vehicle Mervil was driving, and that both parents fled on foot. Mervil was detained without further incident, the agency said, while Polidor ran toward a nearby home and, according to DHS, bit an ICE officer’s hand while resisting arrest before being handcuffed with the help of two additional agents.

Mervil was released the same day under an alternative-to-detention program and fitted with a GPS ankle monitor. Polidor remains in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings, DHS said.

People close to the family told KGTV that Mervil and Polidor had held Temporary Protected Status until late July, when the Trump administration ended TPS for all Haitians in the country, and that the couple has a pending asylum case.

The arrests come amid a broader wave of immigration enforcement affecting Haitian communities across the United States following the termination of TPS, which had shielded eligible Haitians from deportation and authorized them to work in the country due to conditions in Haiti.