The United State of America has announced the extension of protection given to Haitian immigrants.
The Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday November 5, 2022, added that US will also grant the said immigrants work permits and deferral from deportation to those who were in the country as of November 6, 2022.
The extension and redesignation of temporary protected status (TPS) comes after immigration advocates, the Haitian diaspora and Democrats had called on the Biden administration to amplify protections for nationals of the beleaguered country.
“We are providing much-needed humanitarian relief to Haitian nationals already present in the United States,” said Mayorkas in a statement.
“The conditions in Haiti, including socioeconomic challenges, political instability, and gang violence and crime — aggravated by environmental disaster — compelled the humanitarian relief we are providing today,” he added.
The move was largely received as good news among Haiti advocates, who worried that repatriations to the Caribbean country would further aggravate conditions there.
“This decision will save lives and is the type of compassionate response this moment demands,” tweeted Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), one of the Democrats leading the push asking for the TPS extension and redesignation.
“Thank you @POTUS and @SecMayorkas for heeding our calls to extend & re-designate #TPSforHaiti and to the grassroots movement that made this possible,” she added.
While the move is certain to spell relief for tens of thousands in the United States, worsening conditions in Haiti mean the Biden administration still faces a difficult foreign policy task.
“It’s welcome news and it’s the right call both legally and morally, as a nation that is committed not to deport people to conditions of tremendous danger, that’s what TPS is all about,” said Steven Forester, immigration policy coordinator at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.
