North Miami business owner Sabine Dulcio was stunned the week before Haitians on Temporary Protected Status, TPS, lost their authorization to legally work in the United States. The event planner had a wedding to set up at the Coral Gables Country Club and half her staff failed to show up.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever has this happened in my 20 years,\u201d Dulcio, 43, said. \u201cPeople said, \u2018I can\u2019t come to work.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
When she followed up, Dulcio said her employees told her they were afraid to step out of their homes because they didn\u2019t want to get arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n
In Little Haiti, well-known Haitian-Bahamian chef and entrepreneur Wilkinson Sejour is not only feeling the effects of losing his TPS employees as of July 27, when the Trump administration ended work permits, but the false rumors of an ICE raid at one of his restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe restaurant business is like a chain with a thousand links,\u201d said Sejour, the owner of seven Chef Creole restaurants across South Florida, including at Miami International Airport. \u201cIf you are missing one, people start talking about the inconsistency in the food, the customer service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both of Haitian descent, Sejour and Dulcio are among business owners in South Florida who are feeling the effects of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policy, which has placed more than 300,000 Haitians in danger of being detained and deported back to Haiti. Many of them live in South Florida, which is home to the largest Haitian community in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration is doing a really good job of implementing terror,\u201d Sejour said.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Sejour\u2019s employees at Chef Creole\u2019s Little Haiti location on Northwest 54th Street and Second Avenue saw ICE enforcement firsthand, when agents pulled up behind a man on a scooter and put him in handcuffs. The man, wearing a white shirt, was then placed into one of two unmarked vehicles by ICE agents. As they prepared to drive off, an unidentified man under a traffic light asked, \u201cWhat are we going to do with the motorcycle and the bag?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYo, get out of the way,\u201d an ICE agent screamed in reply, before driving off.<\/p>\n
![\"Wilkinson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ChefCreole_001_MHD_BCH.JPG\" "\\"ChefCreole_001_MHD_BCH.JPG\\"")
Wilkinson Sejour poses for a portrait in front of his Little Haiti restaurant in 2018. Miami Herald File <\/p>\n
Sejour told the Miami Herald that a Hispanic man was riding a scooter when he was stopped and pulled over by ICE enforcement agents. The man later came back to get his bike and backpack, telling the employees that ICE agents were forced to release him after realizing he has legal status in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis kind of law enforcement is blatant disrespect for people who have done nothing but come over here and be part of our labor force,\u201d Sejour said. \u201cThis is how you tell them, \u2018Thank you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Sejour, who opened his first Chef Creole restaurant in 1992, says he has lost eight employees because of their TPS status. Some quit even before Monday from fear of being detained by ICE. He said other employees who are legally in the U.S. or have pending asylum claims have told him they are afraid to go to work.<\/p>\n
Dulcio said her employees are also scared about reporting to work. She understands their concerns.<\/p>\n
Born in Haiti, she came to the U.S. as a child in 1989. Dulcio said she didn\u2019t know she was an undocumented immigrant until she was in the 10th grade at North Miami Senior High School.<\/p>\n
![\"Sabine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SabineDucois.jpg\" "\\"SabineDucois.jpg\\"")
Sabine Dulcio is a North Miami business owner. Courtesy photo <\/p>\n
The revelation came when a school counselor wanted her to begin looking at colleges, and the topic came up in a meeting with her mother, she recalled, still emotional about the incident years later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe immigration office used to be on 79th Street and Biscayne Boulevard and lines would wrap around from dusk till dawn of people waiting for their immigration meetings,\u201d she said, recalling her own legalization process. \u201cI got my alien registration card and became a citizen in 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dulcio prides herself on being able to hire other Haitian employees and helping build their skills.<\/p>\n
Over the years, she\u2019s had employees return to school or start their own businesses. Now, she is trying to figure out how she will fill the empty shift for two big events in October with 800 people each.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you run a business, you can\u2019t run on hoping for the best, she said. \u201cPeople are paying for a service, and you have to render that service to the highest quality and standard. It\u2019s a bit of a challenge right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Airport](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MIA_106TPSProtestFLL10NEWPPP.JPG\" "\\"MIA_106TPSProtestFLL10NEWPPP.JPG\\"")
Airport and hotel food and beverage workers with the Local 355 union, at a July briefing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport demanding an extension of TPS for Haitians. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n