Haitians Get Six Months of Protection from Deportation

Haitians will receive six more months of TPS protections before it seems they may have to return to Haiti.

Almost 60,000 Haitians residing in the United States were told in May that they have six more months of immigration protections. Haitian refugees are in the United States under the designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Many in Haiti were granted TPS due to the severe Earthquakes that devastated the region almost seven years ago.

Secretary John Kelly relayed that although the status has been extended, the six month period should be used to arrange travel and for Haiti to prepare for the influx of Haitians back to Haiti.

Senator Bill Nelson warned Secretary Kelly that six months was simply not enough time for Haiti to “absorb 60,000 of its people back.” Immigrants rights activists echo that sentiment. Marleine Bastien, executive director at FANM, said that this extension is not enough. “Six months, and then what? The conditions in Haiti are horrible enough to extend TPS for 18 months to 24 months,” Bastien stated.

Haiti’s economy is still suffering from the devastating impacts of those Earthquakes and several hurricanes that have hit since. In addition, some organizations given money to help Haiti have contributed almost nothing to relief efforts. These concerns propel anxieties within Haitian communities within the US who are not sure if they’ll even have housing if they are forced back to Haiti. “There are still tent cities from the Earthquake” Representative Fredericka Wilson stated.

Recently, Secretary Kelly visited the backyard of one of the largest Haitian Diasproric communities, South Florida. That visit was held at Florida International University and was met with protests. Thomas Kennedy, a local activist and organizer, stated that many in the Miami community want the Trump administration to know that TPS recipients from Haiti and other countries are an asset to Miami, not a detriment.

 

Trump Rolls Back DAPA Protections for Undocumented Parents

Trump Rolls Back DAPA Protections for Undocumented Parents.

On June 16, 2017, Department of Homeland Security, Secretary John Kelly, ended an Obama-era program that sought to pave a pathway to citizenship for the parents of lawful permanent residents. The program is called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents or DAPA.

Dapa previously had come under fire from 26 Republican-governed states who claimed President Obama was overstepping his bounds by granting federal amnesty to DAPA recipients.  The governors of these states filed a suit that made its way all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled with a split decision. This decision meant that no changes were made to the previous stay in the order, leaving the DAPA program powerless.

DAPA could have potentially saved 3.7 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. However, the original program did not exist without its own controversy. Certain immigrant’s rights groups argued that the program did not extend enough protections to the most disenfranchised immigrants. President Obama’s plan for DAPA had requirements that its recipients have no criminal record and a child who had since become a lawful permanent resident before November, 2014.