Haitian Pastor With Pending Green Card Application Pulled From Deportation Flight

Molis Augustave, a 33-year-old Haitian pastor, was arrested at a traffic stop in York, Pennsylvania, on September 4 while making DoorDash deliveries — work he had taken up after losing Temporary Protected Status in late July. He was placed on the manifest for a September 17 ICE charter flight to Cap-Haïtien carrying 89 people, put on the plane and then taken off; his attorney credited public pressure rather than any court ruling, as an emergency request for a restraining order went undecided. His U.S. citizen wife’s spousal petition was approved by USCIS days after his arrest and his green card application is pending, but ICE said he has a final order of removal and will stay in custody pending deportation. He remains held in Louisiana.