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Immigration relief sought
Guatemala, Pakistan ask U.S. for a pause in deportations


By Oscar Avila
Tribune staff reporter

November 7, 2005

After Hurricane Stan swamped Guatemala, and an earthquake struck Pakistan last month, the U.S. government responded with blankets, food, medicine and a bounty of aid.

Now both countries are asking the U.S. government to make a more controversial humanitarian gesture--temporarily stop deporting their citizens who are here illegally.

Officials from Guatemala have convened committees of merchants and ministers to make their case in Chicago with a delegation planning to join a rally in Washington on Wednesday.

Pakistani activists in Chicago are planning a media blitz in ethnic newspapers and on radio in support of the measure, known as temporary protected status (TPS).

Both groups are lobbying Illinois members of Congress, with supporters arguing that returning their citizens home would create a burden on their chaotic and devastated homelands at the worst possible time.

While in Chicago to meet with community leaders recently, Guatemala Foreign Minister Jorge Briz said in an interview that his nation hoped to mobilize the "important voice" of the Latino community to overcome general resistance against liberalized immigration laws.

"This is a difficult environment, but we are counting on common sense from the political leaders here," Briz said.

The push illustrates how the relatively obscure immigration benefit of TPS has become an important strategy to help undocumented immigrants. The benefit typically applies to citizens of countries struck by extreme natural disasters, such as Hondurans affected by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

U.S. Reps. Rahm Emanuel and Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Democrats, recently sent a letter to President Bush arguing that granting TPS to Pakistanis is "consistent with the interests of the United States."

But conservative lawmakers have criticized the campaigns, saying illegal immigrants should not be rewarded despite suffering in their homelands.

It is unclear how many Chicago-area residents would be affected.

The 2000 U.S. census found about 19,000 people from Pakistan and Guatemala living in the Chicago area. But both countries have become a disproportionately large focus of immigration enforcement here.

Although Guatemalans are the 11th-largest foreign-born population, they ranked second in fiscal 2004 in the number of citizens deported from the Chicago district. Dozens in Chicago's Pakistani community, meanwhile, have been deported for immigration violations after the U.S. government included them in a special registration program geared to Muslim and Arab nations.

Temporary protected status can be issued through the Department of Homeland Security or by Congress. A bill to grant TPS to citizens of 12 nations affected by the 2004 tsunami, including Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, stalled even after securing bipartisan support.

TPS also allows undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S., usually for a period of 6 to 18 months. The status can be extended indefinitely, and applicants also can obtain work permits during the TPS period.

Shehzad, a Pakistani citizen facing deportation who asked that his last name not be used, said he is convinced that returning home would make a difficult situation worse for his native city of Karachi. He said his deportation also would cut off the money he sends home to his grandparents, who are facing even more dire circumstances.

The Chicago man came to the U.S. as a teenager 10 years ago and overstayed a visitor's visa. He said immigration authorities moved to deport him after he followed the Department of Homeland Security directive to register with the government.

If he returns to Pakistan, "I'm only going to be using up resources they don't have," he said.

Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that lobbies for reduced immigration, said nations such as Guatemala and Pakistan are using TPS as a loophole to help illegal immigrants.

Stein has testified before Congress on the flaws of TPS, arguing that the U.S. government never goes after immigrants who remain after their temporary legal status expires.

"Because illegal immigration is such a big problem, TPS has become an excuse for foreign governments to ask for illegal aliens to stay here the minute any of those countries has a disaster," Stein said. "It's a sad thing because it's really abusing the generosity and hospitality of the American people."