“When they said we eat cats and dogs, those comments, this business slowly came down. Because a lot of Haitians now, not only Haitians but immigrants, are trying to leave Springfield, to all move,” Moise told the Springfield News-Sun.
The often repeated, and debunked, comments about Haitians made Springfield the face of the nation’s immigration conversation during the 2024 presidential campaign. President Donald Trump vowed, if elected, to carry out an aggressive deportation campaign in Springfield. Many are bracing for that to come soon with some legal protections for Haitian immigrants expiring after Tuesday.
Moise fears the rhetoric around immigration prejudiced people against the Haitian community just trying to live and work here.
“I feel bad but I can say nothing. If you have something in your brain I can’t take it out. That’s your brain,” Moise said.
Courtesy to a wide-ranging menu and fresh food, Moise’s customer base includes not just her fellow Haitians but immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries too. It is far from her first business. Prior to immigrating to the states, Moise owned a restaurant in the Nord Department of Haiti.
In 2018, a painful episode would leave the most important person in her life dead and the business she built from the ground up in ruins.
“I always came here (the U.S.) to buy some stuff, then (went) back to Haiti. But in 2018, I leave my mom and my business. Couple days later, someone called me and said, ‘Are you OK?’ I said yes. ‘Your mom passed away,’ they told me,” Moise said.
“I said ‘How? I just spoke to my mom.’ My mom was my boss, she fixed everything for me,” Moise explained. “Two people came to my business and asked my mom for money. She said, ‘No I don’t have any money, I didn’t sell yet, I just opened.’ They shot my mom in the back when she turned away.”
Moise’s restaurant in Plaisance was destroyed and members of her family targeted. By 2019 she followed many of her compatriots in leaving Haiti for the U.S.
“My friend bring (sic) me here to Springfield,” she said. “Some knew I had a restaurant before, I had a business they know of, they said why don’t you start to cook or sell food?”
It would take years to get her paperwork together but eventually, in 2024, Moise finally was able to open her new restaurant. The dish griot du sos pwa remains a firm favorite alongside her empanadas, but both are dwarfed by the dozens of other menu items she serves.
“I got Italian food here, Haitian food, American food too,” she said. “People like griot, spicy pickles, fried chicken, fried goat, diri sos pwa legumes, sos kala lo, black rice. Haitians love black rice. We make it with beans and sauce.”
Credit: Buck Creek Photography
Credit: Buck Creek Photography
How long she’ll be able to serve these dishes in Springfield is what concerns her most now. She remains upbeat despite acknowledging that the reduction in the city’s immigrant community could “destroy” her business.
Many have fled the city, but she sees no reason.
“This is America: if they want to catch you, they will catch you. If you go to Florida, everywhere in the states is the same. For me I don’t go nowhere. If something can be happen, it can happen here. I go nowhere,” she said.
Moise credited God with giving her the strength to continue despite growing fears of a federal immigration crackdown on Haitians. As the Temporary Protected Status that allowed so many to come to the states legally is scheduled to end after Tuesday, she remains proud of what she has been able to build in Springfield.
“I like business. Everywhere I pass I try to make a business because I like it. I like to cook. It’s my favorite part,” Moise said.
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