Efforts renewed to grant temporary protected status for undocumented Haitians

By Luis F. Perez | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
1:44 PM EST, January 7, 2009

Advocates and congressional leaders are renewing their effort to have the government grant temporary protected status for thousands of undocumented Haitian immigrants.

Moments after being sworn in in Congress on Tuesday, Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, reintroduced a bill to grant the temporary status that he has championed for years.

He plans to meet with Obama's transition team Thursday morning and one of his top priorities will be this issue, said David Goldenberg, a spokesman for Hastings.

Randy McGrorty, director of Catholic Charities Legal Services for the Archdiocese of Miami, said advocates have already met with the transition team. With a stroke of the pen, President-elect Barack Obama can stop deportations and give Haitians here the permission to work, he said.

"What we need now if for Obama administration to step up to the plate," said Steven Forester, a spokesman for Haitian Women of Miami.

The government halted deportations in September after four tropical storms ravaged Haiti, raising the hopes of advocates that the outgoing Bush administration would grant temporary protected status. But days before Christmas, immigration officials started deporting Haitians again.

On Dec. 19, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote Haitian President Rene Preval, explaining that temporary status would not be granted. After consulting with the State Department and U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services, Chertoff wrote, he "concluded that Haiti does not currently warrant [temporary protected status] designation."

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