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Bill seeks protected status for Lebanese in US
Senators push to extend stays
By Michael M. Grynbaum, Globe Correspondent | August 2, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Senators are putting new pressure on the government to allow citizens of Lebanon who were visiting the United States when hostilities broke out in their home country to remain in America for at least another year.

A bipartisan bill introduced yesterday by Senators Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and John E. Sununu, Republican of New Hampshire, would provide 12-month temporary protected status for thousands of Lebanese citizens visiting the United States on temporary visas.

Supporters of the bill said the ongoing violence in Lebanon, where scores of civilians have died over three weeks of fighting between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, threatens the safety of returning citizens. Temporary protected status is granted to foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their country due to armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other ``extraordinary" conditions.

``It would be an enormous mistake to send Lebanese nationals back into that war zone simply because the timing on their visa would dictate that," Sununu said in an interview.

Durbin's office estimated that there are about 20,000 visiting Lebanese currently in the United States.

Congress previously granted temporary protective status for Lebanese citizens in September 1989, in the midst of a violent civil war. Yesterday's bill may not be considered until after Labor Day, when the Senate returns from its August recess.

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff also has the authority to grant protected status to a country.

``I have heard of no plans for Homeland Security to declare this status, though it makes great sense," Sununu said. ``In the absence of action by them, Congress should do this by statute."

A spokesman for US Citizen and Immigration Services, which oversees immigration issues for Homeland Security, said Lebanon has not filed a request seeking temporary protected status for its citizens.

``It's not something the secretary has in front of him right now," the spokesman, Chris Bentley, said.

However, the Immigration and Nationality Act provides two options for Chertoff to grant temporary protected status to a foreign state without first receiving a request from that state.

In a letter to the president last week, Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, Democrats of Massachusetts, asked that temporary protected status be provided for visiting nationals from Lebanon, Israel, and the Gaza Strip. The Durbin-Sununu bill only includes Lebanese nationals.

Durbin and Sununu said yesterday that they would be open to expanding their bill to include residents of all three areas, a prospect urged by Kerry and Kennedy.

``America should show its compassion by not forcing people currently legally in the U.S. to return home until it is safe to do so," Kerry said in a statement.

Kerry's office cited the case of a Medfield family whose relatives are visiting from Lebanon.

Georgette Akrouche's mother and 13-year-old sister traveled from the Jezzine region of Lebanon to visit her at her Medfield home, expecting to stay for two months. ``The day that they got here, the next morning everything was messed up," Akrouche said in an interview.

With their visas expiring at the end of September, Akrouche's relatives will have to return to Lebanon.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, said he was praying that protected status would be quickly granted to visitors from the affected region.

``If we're having trouble getting Americans out, how do we send people back?" Zogby said in an interview. ``And what do we send them back to?"

Temporary protected status is currently available for visiting nationals of seven countries: Burundi, El Salvador, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Somalia, and Sudan.