When Haitian immigrants Theslet Benoir and Clemene Bastien came to America in 2005, they hoped to find a place where rule of law prevailed, and where they could build an honest living for themselves. For 18 years, that held true. Recently, however, they learned that some local officials, elected to uphold the rule of law, believe they can undermine it with impunity.
But Benoir and Bastien refuse to let out-of-control bureaucrats cut their American Dream short, so they filed a federal lawsuit to fight back.
Benoir and Bastien are a married couple who live in the small town of Parksley, Va. After a few years working at a poultry plant, they had saved up enough money to open the Eben-Ezer Variety Market, a convenience store tailored to the area’s growing Haitian population.
In May 2023, they received a one-year permit from the town to open a food truck on their property, which they named Eben-Ezer Haitian Food Truck. This is when their dream of living under the rule of law was upended.
A week after the couple opened their food truck, Town Councilman Henry Nicholson began harassing them. According to their lawsuit, Nicholson came onto their property uninvited, falsely accused them of illegally dumping grease and physically severed their food truck’s connection to Parksley’s sewer system. Without this necessary utility, Benoir and Bastien could not operate their business until they had paid a local handyman to fix the damage Nicholson had caused. In the meantime, they lost more than $1,000 in spoiled food and missed out on profits that they would have earned had they not been scrambling to repair their inoperable food truck.
The very next day, Nicholson returned. This time, the raging councilman used his truck to attempt to block a new food delivery at the business. According to Bastien, when she confronted him, he yelled at her to “go back to your own country.”
Throughout these two days, Nicholson claimed his position on the town council gave him license to victimize Benoir and Bastien and destroy their property. In October 2023, Nicholson (along with other members of Parksley’s town council) enacted a sweeping, near-total ban on food trucks. Despite its broad language, the ban targeted the only food truck in town — the one owned by Benoir and Bastien.
The councilmembers who voted in favor of the ban baselessly feared that competition from the couple’s new business would harm the local restaurant industry. Shortly after the ban was passed, however, Parksley’s mayor publicly stated that the town would allow Benoir and Bastien to keep running their food truck until their business license expired this May.
In November, Benoir and Bastien teamed up with my public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, to call on Parksley to repeal the food truck ban. The very next day, the town sent them a letter threatening them with criminal convictions for each day they operated their food truck — including for days before the town’s letter was sent. In other words, Parksley threatened them with years in jail and thousands of dollars in fines, all for operating a business the town had told them they could operate.
Since then, the food truck has been shuttered. This has cost the couple an ever-growing amount of lost profits, and they have been terrified to speak out against the government, for fear that they could be thrown behind bars.
In January, Benoir and Bastien decided they’d had enough. So they worked with us to file the federal lawsuit against the town and Nicholson.
Unfortunately, their story is not unique. Critics of local politicians frequently find themselves being targeted with jail time, fines and harassment throughout the country, in places such as Newton, Iowa; East Cleveland, Ohio; Eagle, Wisconsin; and Castle Hills, Texas.
The good news for these victims of outrageous retaliation is that the Supreme Court will be hearing the Castle Hills case in March. In that case, a 76-year-old woman named Sylvia Gonzalez faced harassment, false charges and imprisonment, all because she spearheaded a petition to remove the city manager from office. Sylvia, an elected member of the city council, was simply supporting what her constituents and her own convictions told her was right.
A decision in Sylvia’s favor could set a national precedent that would protect the rights of other victims of petty tyranny, like Benoir and Bastien. On the other hand, a decision against Sylvia would set a troubling precedent that antagonistic local officials are above the law.
Benoir and Bastien fled Haiti because they saw the violence and lawlessness that break out when there is no rule of law. Federal courts must ensure that America lives up to the standards they prayed they would find upon their arrival.
Dylan Moore is a litigation fellow at the Institute for Justice, which represents Theslet Benoir and Clemene Bastien in their federal lawsuit.
Supreme Court can hold local officials accountable for outrageous rights violations
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23.02.2024
When Haitian immigrants Theslet Benoir and Clemene Bastien came to America in 2005, they hoped to find a place where rule of law prevailed, and where they could build an honest living for themselves. For 18 years, that held true. Recently, however, they learned that some local officials, elected to uphold the rule of law, believe they can undermine it with impunity.
But Benoir and Bastien refuse to let out-of-control bureaucrats cut their American Dream short, so they filed a federal lawsuit to fight back.
Benoir and Bastien are a married couple who live in the small town of Parksley, Va. After a few years working at a poultry plant, they had saved up enough money to open the Eben-Ezer Variety Market, a convenience store tailored to the area’s growing Haitian population.
In May 2023, they received a one-year permit from the town to open a food truck on their property, which they named Eben-Ezer Haitian Food Truck. This is when their dream of living under the rule of law was upended.
A week after the couple opened their food truck, Town Councilman Henry Nicholson began harassing them. According to their lawsuit, Nicholson came onto their property uninvited, falsely accused them of illegally dumping grease and........
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