Haitians On Edge As The Trump Administration Considers Their Fate
Some 50,000 Haitians are twisting in the wind as the Trump administration deliberates about whether to extend the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that has shielded them from deportation. Unable to return home safely, they have been living in the U.S. since January 12, 2011, a year after the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than a million. The administration has until May 23 to decide whether to extend the special immigration program that protects those who cannot be safely repatriated due to armed conflict, environmental disaster or other extraordinary and temporary conditions in their home countries. The current status is set to expire on July 22. Amid a roiling debate on immigration, the decision is being closely watched as a harbinger of whether the administration can elevate compassion over politics.
Haiti, the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, is still reeling from the earthquake, a cholera epidemic that has killed thousands, sickened hundreds of thousands more and is estimated to infect another 30,000 people this year, and Hurricane Matthew last October, that caused $2.8 million in damages and a legacy of displacement and intensified food insecurity that continues today. Those disasters are compounded by political and economic instability, rendering the country ill-equipped to absorb those who would face deportation. Yet James McCament, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), argued against an extension in an April memo, finding that “conditions have significantly improved since the earthquake,” recommending instead a grace period until January 2018.
Among those urging the administration to extend TPS are an expanding bipartisan group of legislators, non-governmental organizations, more than 400 faith-based organizations and leaders, and a growing chorus of major newspaper editorials. As members of the Congressional Black Caucus said in a letter to DHS Secretary John Kelly, “failing to reissue TPS at this critical juncture would be a grave mistake that would mean sending tens of thousands of Haitians back to a country that is struggling with disease, nutritional insecurity, and possible natural disaster. Instead of undertaking this drastic and irreversible action, we call upon you to show compassion for this struggling community and allow them to remain here for an additional 18 months as Haiti continues to rebuild.”
As the decision looms, an Associated Press report revealing that USCIS is seeking information about crimes committed by Haitians has stoked fury. The agency requested “any reports of criminal activity by any individual with TPS. Even though it’s only a snapshot and not representative of the entire situation, we need more than ‘Haiti is really poor’ stories.” USCIS is also gathering information on whether Haitians here under TPS are receiving public benefits. As the New York Daily News argues, “The Department of Homeland Security, pushing back against evidence of real-world despair in Haiti, is prepared to gum up the works by smearing Haitians living here as lawbreakers.” Members of the Congressional Black Caucus also denounced the move, saying that “Reports that USCIS is collecting crime statistics to justify the denial of TPS re-designation for Haiti defies both the letter and spirit of the law, while corroding the values of our nation of immigrants.”
Many of those facing deportation, who have built lives in the U.S., make significant economic and social contributions to their local communities, as well as national coffers, paying billions in social security benefits. They also provide critical support to at least a half a million people in Haiti through remittances.
As Tom Jawetz, vice president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, told the Miami Herald, the decision is the “first test of this administration’s commitment to handle TPS determinations in an apolitical manner that respects human rights and the letter of the law.” Advocates fear that a decision to end TPS for Haitians would augur ill for several hundred thousand Central Americans whose TPS status is up for renewal next year and who would also be endangered by forcible repatriation.
During a campaign stop in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood last September, Trump promised to champion the interests of Haitians. Declining to extend TPS defies that assurance and imperils the communities he vowed to protect.