Haitians, meanwhile, often toiled in the shadows. Reflecting fears in the United States over an influx of Haitian immigrants, American authorities rejected more political asylum requests from Haitians than those from any other national group. Among those who made it to American shores, Haitians were disproportionately incarcerated, according to Alex Stepick, emeritus professor of anthropology at Florida International University.

Longtime Miami residents kept their distance from the newcomers who spoke Creole and sometimes mixed in voodoo rituals with Catholicism. Native-born Miamians would sometimes describe a person with psychiatric problems as “acting Haitian.”

Many Haitian immigrants and their descendants contend they are still treated worse than other groups. Still, they can also point to achievements in an array of realms, having emerged as a crucial source of remittances for the Haitian economy and a constituency to be courted in American elections for both Democrats and Republicans.

During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump himself visited Miami’s Little Haiti, a bastion of the Haitian community, in which he told the small gathering, “I really want to be your biggest champion.”

Georges Sami Saati, 65, a Haitian-American businessman and Republican who was in the crowd to greet Mr. Trump that day, said he remained in the president’s camp, emphasizing the president’s capacity for “straight talk.”

“Look, I don’t agree with 100 percent of what Trump says,” said Mr. Saati, adding that his comments on Haiti “are something that many people say every day.”

Still, with Haitian-American politicians wielding greater influence in South Florida than ever, political leaders in the community, which is heavily Democratic, are forging strategies to counter what they view as the Trump administration’s hostility toward them.