Haitians Get Relief as U.S. Extends TPS Through Jan. 2020
Haitian nationals living in the United States under temporary protected status (TPS) will be allowed to stay in the U.S. under that program for at least another 10 months.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in compliance with an October ruling from a U.S. Circuit Court in California, on Feb. 28 announced the extension of TPS through Jan. 2, 2010. It was originally scheduled to expire in July.
The TPS extension covers nationals of Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan.
Haitians were first granted TPS by then U.S. President Barack Obama after a massive earthquake devastated the French-speaking Caribbean island on Jan. 12, 2010. The quake killed more than 300,000, injured roughly the same number and left over a million homeless. Many Haitians who were in the U.S. at the time were granted permission to stay under TPS instead of going home to face the tragedy.
SPARED
TPS allows recipients to live and work legally in the U.S. The extension is expected to benefit more than 250,000. More than 50,000 of those are reportedly Haitians. Without the program’s extension, they would have been subject to deportation.
However, current President Donald Trump, who once reportedly lumped Haiti among so-called “shit hole countries” has sought to end the program. The issue has since been tied up in U.S. courts. The California court’s ruling last October stopped the DHS from terminating TPS.
Last month’s DHS decision is being viewed as a way to stabilize the uncertainty over TPS until the courts or the U.S. Congress makes a final decision on the program.
GOOD NEWS
Members of the Caribbean American community welcomed the latest DHS decision.
“This is tremendous news for the TPS recipients from Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan,” Marleine Bastien, Haitian-born executive director of South Florida-based Family Action Network Movement (FANM) stated in a press release.
“This is a temporary relief for these families. At FANM, we believe that Congress must act promptly to find a permanent solution of all TPS recipients and their families.”
The DHS decision also found favor with some lawmakers.
U.S. Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson, who represents a constituency in Florida with a large Caribbean American community, noted in a statement that the DHS “extension will give hundreds of thousands of hardworking immigrants a temporary reprieve from deportation.”
However, Wilson said she believes the Trump administration will continue to try and end TPS.
