Thread: Immigration reprieves can be long-lasting

Immigration reprieves can be long-lasting

350,000 foreigners in U.S. are under protected status offered to Haitians who already are here

U.S. Department of Homeland Security By David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel

January 22, 2010


In the winter of 1998, after Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America, the Clinton administration offered short-term legal residency to about 150,000 undocumented Nicaraguans and Hondurans already living in the United States.

"It is a temporary status," Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner told reporters in announcing the decision. "The work authorizations will be issued only for 18 months. It is breathing room."

Today about 83,100 of them are still here, as succeeding administrations granted extension after extension of their right to live and work in the United States. They remain under what's called Temporary Protected Status, the same program offered this week to an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians in the United States at the time of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

About 350,000 foreign nationals already live in the United States under the program, created by Congress in 1990 to offer a haven to people who may not meet the legal definition of refugee. Critics say it amounts to a back-door way of letting people stay permanently, using administrative renewals that allow political leaders to evade the responsibility of actually announcing such a decision.

But whatever the implications, the Obama administration's announcement this week was greeted with joy in Haitian neighborhoods, where many people live lives of odd jobs, shared apartments, few educational opportunities and constant fear of deportation.

"I didn't think this day would come," said Georges Pierre, 23, of Hollywood, who came to the Oakland Park office of Catholic Legal Services with his sister on Thursday for help with the paperwork. With legal status, he said, he hopes to get a full-time job and save money for college. "We love the United States."

No one knows how many Haitians will apply. Initial turnout at assistance centers has been heavy, with several hundred a day lining up at a single Miami church. And in Haitian communities in Belle Glade, Delray Beach and Riviera Beach, more people are visible on the streets as the fear of deportation lifts, said Phillippe Louis Jeune, president of the Haitian Citizen United Taskforce Inc. of Lake Worth and a Haitian radio host.

"There's a big movement," said Jeune, who said 245 people have sought his help since Wednesday. "They used to stay in the house. They were afraid to go out."

Ana Santiago, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, said applications will be processed in Nebraska and California, with the work done in 90 days. She said most of the applications are being initially handled by charitable organizations, so the bureau has no sense yet of the volume.

Immigration advocate Steve Forester said temporary status offers those already here an opportunity to play a larger role in rebuilding Haiti.

They're not asking for handouts," he said. "They're asking to be able to work and send money back to Haiti to help Haiti recover."

Those Haitians who do obtain permission to stay will join thousands of people from five countries living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status. Salvadorans account for the largest number, with 266,000 granted residency after a 2001 earthquake.

Others include Hondurans and Nicaraguans allowed to stay after Hurricane Mitch and 950 Somalis and Sudanese granted temporary residency because of their countries' civil wars.

In explaining the latest 18-month extension for Hondurans, announced Oct. 1, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security said thousands of houses destroyed by the hurricane still had not been replaced, many areas had a high risk of flooding and many communities lacked electricity and adequate drinking water. But as critics point out, this could describe conditions in many poor countries.

"When they talk about renewing, they say the things like, 'The country is still poor and disorganized,'" said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., group that favors tighter limits on immigration.

"And that describes those countries to begin with. The problem with temporary protective status is it's not temporary. It's dishonest. They should either resume enforcement of the immigration laws or else give them all green cards."

Although Krikorian supported the decision to grant temporary protective status to Haitians — "Their country is in ruins" — he said the critical test will come when it expires. "Do we resume enforcement of the immigration laws in 18 months?" he asked. "Because in 18 months, Haiti is still going to be a basket case."

But Jeanne Butterfield, senior adviser to the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigration group, said it's untrue that the United States never allows this status to expire. Among the examples are people from Bosnia, Montserrat, Angola and Sierra Leone, she said.

Although it can last for years, she said foreign policy considerations play a role, as the United States seeks to prevent political destabilization in areas such as Central America.

David Abraham, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law, said there are several reasons temporary residency tends to become permanent. While here, people marry, have children, put down roots.

Living conditions in the United States are almost invariably better than in their former country. And they send money home, giving their country of origin a reason to want them to remain in the United States.

"It's certainly in the interest of poor Central American and poor Caribbean countries," Abraham said. "For many of these countries, it helps them shed the poorest of their people and helps them recapture hard currency."

David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sunsentinel.com
Staff Writer Alexia P. Campbell contributed to this report.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/haiti/ ... ory?page=1

"It's certainly in the interest of poor Central American and poor Caribbean countries," Abraham said. "For many of these countries, it helps them shed the poorest of their people and helps them recapture hard currency."

Not only shedding the poorest, but undoubtedly the most illiterate and unskilled. And I would not call it a recapture of hard currency, rather an outright ambush.
There was a quote I read earlier that you cannot cure addiction by giving more the addict craves, which seems to be what we are doing continually.