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| Haitians Deserve and Urgently Need Temporary Protected Status | December 9, 2008 |
| Cheryl Little & Susana Barciela | |
| • Haiti was struck by four hurricanes and tropical storms in less than one month: Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike. The entire country has been affected: hundreds are reported dead, 600,000 houses have been damaged and more than 3 million persons affected, according to the most recent United Nations report. The storms have wiped out most of the food crops and millions face the specter of acute hunger. Meanwhile, malaria and other diseases are spreading. Eight key bridges collapsed during the storms and roads have turned into lakes. According to the United Nations’ special envoy to Haiti, both the UN mission and the Haitian government have been overwhelmed by the scale of the disasters. • More than 300,000 are homeless in the city of Gonaives alone. Gonaives has been virtually cut off by Hanna’s floodwaters. Other cities have been isolated and are only accessible by air. (Over 3,000 people died in Gonaive following tropical storm Jeanne in September of 2004). • Haiti was on the brink of famine that sparked deadly riots before the last two storms. Since then, many of Haiti’s fledging agricultural crops were destroyed by floods and mudslides and the infrastructure completely overwhelmed. • As of September 5, 2008, over 54,000 Haitians were living in emergency shelters and countless numbers were going without food and water. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, even before the hurricanes, an estimated 2.3 million Haitians had “fallen into food insecurity.” The prices for staple foods increased over 40% since January 2008, and more again since the storms. • Earlier in November, a school collapse killed 91 students and teachers and injured 162 people. Five days later, another Port-au-Prince school partially collapsed. The causes of the disasters are not clear. The same month, Doctors Without Borders reported 26 children had died of malnutrition in a remote region. • Travel warnings issued by the U.S. Department of State in April 30, 2008 remain in effect, advising Americans to defer non-essential travel to Haiti until further notice due to political and economic conditions that precipitated civil unrest. • Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is the least expensive, most immediate form of humanitarian assistance we can provide Haiti. It allows the Haitian government to invest all of its internal resources in the rebuilding and redevelopment of its struggling economy. TPS will also enable Haitians already in the U.S. to continue sending remittances to their loved ones in Haiti, whose very survival could depend on this support. • In 2006, Haitians in the U.S. sent $1.65 billion in remittances to Haiti. No other group in the world sends money home in a higher percentage than Haitians living abroad. • TPS may be granted when there is ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to public safety; it is requested by a foreign state that cannot handle the return of its nationals due to environmental disaster; or when extraordinary and temporary conditions exist which prevent foreign nationals from returning. • Haitians have been deserving of TPS over the years, given the political turmoil in Haiti, the devastation caused by natural disasters and the country’s inability to effectively respond in a timely fashion. Yet Haitians have never been granted TPS. Conversely, TPS has been granted to nationals of Sudan, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Burundi, Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador and Guatemala due to political unrest in those countries. TPS was granted to Hondurans and Nicaraguans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to Salvadorans after an earthquake in 2001. On October 1, 2008, TPS was extended for Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and El Salvadorans. • There is a misperception that TPS is never temporary. This is simply false. According to USCIS, TPS has been granted and then terminated for the following countries: Angola, Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liberia, El Salvador (early 1990’s), Montserrat, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Kosovo Province (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), Sierra Leone, Kuwait, and Burundi. All three Administrations that have invoked TPS have also terminated TPS status. • The Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs recently told members of Congress that there are concerns that granting TPS to Haitians would “encourage people to depart.” This argument is not only faulty—permitting Haitians already in the U.S. to send remittances to their families in Haiti will likely prevent them from fleeing—but it constitutes a double standard. Most important, Haitian nationals were granted Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) in 1997 by President Clinton, and there was no mass migration of Haitians to the United States. Haitians not already in the U.S. would not be eligible for TPS—there is a clear cut-off date. • TPS will permit Haitians presently in the U.S. to reside here with work permits for 18 months. Haitians with two or more misdemeanors or one felony could still be deported. • It is estimated that only about 20,000 Haitians would qualify for TPS, a significantly smaller number than for other groups already granted TPS. • Haiti is only 600 miles from our shores. Granting Haitians TPS will not only spare Haitians living in the United States from being returned to a country where they could well face starvation and homelessness and further burden a government on the brink of disaster, but will permit the beneficiaries of TPS to continue to support their loved ones in Haiti. • Canada has had a moratorium on Haiti deportations for some time, in recognition of Haiti’s fragile political and economic situation. Its time for the United States to recognize that Haitians are clearly deserving of TPS and to grant this relief immediately. To do less is not only inhumane but some would argue is racist. Call for TPS for Haitians today! Write or call President Bush and DHS Secretary Chertoff: George W. Bush President of the United States The White House Washington, DC 20500 Phone: 202-456-1111 Fax: 202-456-2461 comments@whitehouse.gov Michael Chertoff Secretary, Department of Homeland Security 2001 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20201 Phone: 202-282-8000 Fax: 202-282-8401 | |