ORLANDO, Fla. _ Henry Dorvil was living a good life in Sanford.
The 24-year-old native of Haiti _ who has lived in the U.S. since he was a baby _ had recently moved into his first apartment. His new video production business was taking on new clients and growing quickly.
However, he needed to briefly return to Haiti to straighten out his immigration status after unwittingly failing to renew his temporary protected status, which allowed him to stay in the U.S. But Dorvil has been stranded in the impoverished Caribbean nation since December.
He is living without running water, electricity and little access to the internet as he awaits documents _ which could take 18 months to obtain _ that would allow him to return to the U.S. as a legal resident.
"I was shocked because I wanted to follow the correct procedure," Dorvil said from Limbe, Haiti, a city of 33,000 about 130 miles north of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
He said he returned to Haiti to get his paperwork in order because as an immigrant in the U.S. "there's a lot of things you can't do," and he wanted to build his business and attend college.
Last month, Dorvil's friends in Sanford started a "Help Henry" campaign to urge U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to speed up his immigration process.
They launched a Facebook page and posted "Help Henry" posters downtown. Also, more than 75 Sanford business owners and residents have sent letters to the federal government pleading for Dorvil's case to be expedited.
"Our whole community really wants him back," said Christina Hollerbach, whose family owns the popular downtown Willow Tree Cafe restaurant. "We're all working together to get him home. ... He always has such a good attitude about life."
Many in the community call the energetic Dorvil "the hardest-working man in Sanford" for his ambitious drive in launching his own company while holding down several part-time jobs and doing volunteer work.
Artist Jeff Sonksen _ known for creating hundreds of portraits of celebrities on the Seminole-Wekiva Trail _ painted an image of Henry with the words "Sanford Wants Henry Back" to encourage local support. The painting is now hanging outside a building on Palmetto Street near First Avenue in downtown Sanford.
"He grew up here," the artist said. "He went to school here. He's got a job here. I'm beyond irritated. Where's the common sense?"
In February, Dorvil's family hired Orlando immigration attorney Billy Jackson to help speed the process.
"He is basically in limbo in Limbe," Jackson said. "It is very difficult for someone like Henry, because Henry is a go-getter. But he is now trapped in a place where there is nothing to go get."
Dorvil arrived in the U.S. from Haiti in 1993 when he was 5 months old with his family, who sought political asylum after a military coup.
He grew up in Pine Hills, attended Evans High School and graduated from the Workforce Advantage Academy charter school. He has never been arrested or charged with a crime.
His father, Jean-Claude Dorvil, became a naturalized U.S. citizen and now lives in Fort Lauderdale.
His mother, Henriette Dorsinvil, obtained legal citizenship and lives in Orlando.
His older sister, Claudine Beureuse, 32, is also a naturalized U.S. citizen, and his American-born brother, Jerry Dorvil, 22, serves in the U.S. Marine Corps in Hawaii.
Henry Dorvil, however, had been living in the U.S. under temporary protected status that has been offered to Haitian nationals by the federal government since 2010.
It's the same program that allows about 500 Walt Disney World employees to remain and work in the U.S. However, the Trump administration has said it may soon end the program.
Dorvil unknowingly failed to renew his status about two years ago and had been an unlawful resident without realizing it, Jackson said. The stakes were potentially high had he remained in the U.S. and been caught as an unlawful resident. If he were deported, Dorvil would have faced up to a 10-year ban on returning to the U.S.
Last year, Dorvil decided he wanted to obtain a green card _ an authorization by the federal government that allows an immigrant to live and work in the U.S. permanently _ so he could grow his business and pursue a college education.
Figuring he would spend only a couple of weeks there on the island nation to process his application,
Dorvil bought a round-trip ticket and flew to Haiti in December. When he got to the embassy, he said he "was told something was wrong with the paperwork and I had to fill out two new waivers" to allow him to re-enter the U.S.
The waivers are being processed, Jackson said, "but unfortunately it takes a long time." An official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security said she couldn't comment on specific immigration cases because of privacy laws.
Meanwhile, Dorvil, who lives with an uncle, takes a sponge bath by drawing water from a nearby well. He walks several miles to a cafe to access the internet. He pays a local man a few dollars to recharge his cellphone using a solar-powered generator.
Despite his plight, Dorvil remains optimistic.
"The town I'm staying in is beautiful with a bunch of nice people," he said.
Even so, Dorvil's Sanford friends are keeping their hopes up that they'll soon see their cheerful friend again.
"He is part of the fabric of the community, for sure," said Paul Williams of Celery City Craft, a bar and restaurant on Palmetto Avenue.
