Longtime Boynton Beach restaurant sees customers, sales drop as Haitian TPS ends

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — When Jean Morisset opened Tropical Island Restaurant 22 years ago in Boynton Beach, a town in Palm Beach County about 60 miles north of Miami, it was made up of gated neighborhoods, retirement villages and a nascent, yet growing, Haitian community. 

By the 2010s, as Palm Beach County saw an influx of Haitians, Boynton Beach became home to at least 10,000 of them. Many patronized Tropical Island for its mix of home-style Haitian classics – such as poulet en sauce, diri djon djon and mais moulin ak legume – and Caribbean fusion fare. 

In recent years, Morisset came to rely heavily on TPS holders in particular. As patrons, he said, they spend about $4,000 on breakfast items alone on a typical day heading to work. He also hired several.

Now, as the Trump administration ends Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, Morisset is feeling the impact hard on his family business. 

“We’ve lost a good 60 percent of our traffic,” Morisset said in an interview July 30. “I would say around 600 people [came] daily, but that is cut in half now

“The last three days,” he continued, “We’ve been lucky if we can get around 200, 250 customers.”

The steep drop stems from a June 25 Supreme Court ruling, in Mullin v. Doe, that upholds the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to terminate TPS, which allowed certain eligible Haitians to live and work in the U.S. legally. Haiti TPS officially ended July 27, leaving Haitian immigrants whose work permits were tied to the status without a legal means to earn income — and an uncertain future.

“A lot of Haitian people, 30 [to] 40 of them would come in a big van and get food every morning,” said Morisset, who inherited the business from his parents. “Since Monday, I have not seen them.”

Layoffs at small businesses underway 

As a small business owner who has relied on TPS holders, Morisset felt the ruling immediately.

“I basically had to let nine people go on Sunday night,” he said. “Even though two of them showed up to work [on Monday], I just told them, ‘You know, sorry, I can’t. You can’t continue to work here.’”

Morisset said he let them go because he was afraid of incurring a fine for each employee whose legal status had expired. He was referring to a federal employment law prohibiting an employer from knowingly continuing to employ someone who is no longer authorized to work.

Two days after that, on July 29, two ICE agents walked into the restaurant. Morisset said they told him that they wanted to warn business owners of increasing enforcement activity and verifying they were abiding by the ruling.  

With such appearances being common, foot traffic has dwindled, as customers opt to stay indoors, lest ICE detains them or their loved ones. Morisset also became concerned about food going to waste as fewer customers came in. So he began to close the restaurant earlier than usual, going from 14 hours to 10, and working those shifts alongside his wife, Lynn Morisset. 

“Since Monday, I’ve been losing a lot of money, a lot of business and a lot of employees,” he explained. “Haitian food is not a food that you can reheat or redo. So it was basically a big loss.” 

The couple is currently hiring for multiple positions. But since hiring and training new employees takes time, he said, bouncing back to the level of activity his TPS workers produced is a long ways away.

Workplace scares part of strategic push  

ICE agents walking into Morisset’s restaurant was no fluke, community members and attorneys say.

“It’s not unusual for ICE agents to visit workplaces open to the public, such as a restaurant, and conduct raids targeting illegal immigration,” attorney Lana Joseph, an Atlanta-based immigration lawyer, told The Haitian Times. 

What is not customary this time, she said, is the various scare tactics agents are using against small businesses and communities. 

“They are going door to door, warning business owners about heavy fines if they employ undocumented workers or fail to report them,” said Joseph, who leads L. Marcius Joseph and Associates.

“They are making traffic stops, offering $2,600 for self-deportation, sending all kinds of letters to people and putting ankle monitors on some with pending asylum applications to humiliate them and provoke grounds for deportation,” she listed. “The Trump administration is making it so hard for people that they reach a point with no choice but to self-deport. If  someone can’t work, they won’t be able to feed their family and keep a roof over their head.” 

Immigrant communities across Florida are feeling the brunt of the tactics.

On July 31, recounted the business owner, who asked not be named for fear of retribution from the federal government, he witnessed a “brutal” ICE takedown in central Florida. That morning, he said he saw several agents come out of an unmarked black truck. They broke into the entrance of a nearby bakery, he said, and detained workers and customers alike. Minutes later, the business owner said, three people were handcuffed and made to sit on the sidewalk. 

The agents then went into three other places in the strip mall — a produce market, a clothing store and a laundromat. Shortly after, they released two of the detained and left with one handcuffed person. 

“We are living in a nightmare where Latinos and Blacks — particularly Haitians — are targeted,” said the owner of a franchise who is himself an immigrant. 

“Whether you are a U.S. citizen or a green card holder does not matter to these people,” he said. “In many instances, agents assume you are undocumented because you look a certain way.”

A Homeland Security spokesperson has told The Haitian Times the agency does not confirm operations they may have around the country.

Domino effect felt in wider community

Foot traffic at his area’s shopping centers have dropped, as a result. Many retail stores dependent on workers and customers whose employment authorization was terminated, have seen a considerable drop in business.

“I don’t know how long small businesses like mine can survive if they have to pay salaries well above the minimum wage to attract workers while revenue continues to decline because of immigration policies,” he lamented. 

To replace six workers he recently let go when their work permits expired, the business owner had to offer hourly rates that are 150 percent higher than he paid those he laid off. 

As for Morisset, he’s also doing what he can to stay afloat.

The unique nature of Haitian breakfast items has led to a 90 percent drop in breakfast customers, significantly affecting revenue. Morisset plans to end breakfast service to reduce the losses.

Since Tropical Island Restaurant owns the building, that reduces operating costs. However, not every local business in the community is that fortunate.

Morisset hopes judges and politicians will recognize the negative economic impact on industries of the effort to deport TPS holders. He called on elected officials to consider the contributions of immigrants.

“You know that immigrants are the backbone of America,” he said. “They are contributing, paying taxes, working, taking care of the elderly, taking care of your mother, your grandmother, taking care of the landscaping, the beautiful golf courses [where] you guys go golfing, the clubhouses.

“These are all migrants. Not only are they doing this job, but they’re doing it with a smile on their face. They want to pay taxes. They want to contribute to the American dream, and that’s all they’re asking for.”

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