Thread: Special status will halt deportations from U.S.

Special status will halt deportations from U.S.

Updated 5m ago
By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

Lawmakers and immigration groups are calling on the Obama administration to grant Haitians in the USA, including those here illegally, a special temporary legal status that would protect them from deportation and allow them to take jobs.

That would be a step beyond what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced: a halt in deportations "for the time being." About 30,000 Haitians now in the USA had been ordered deported.

The DHS can grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to people from countries experiencing civil war, natural disaster or some other catastrophe.

Immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan have the status.

DAMAGE: Images before and after the earthquake
PHOTOS: Devastating earthquake hits Haiti
REACTION: News of loved ones in Haiti trickles into USA
INTERACTIVE: Haiti and the earthquake zone

"There is no way to safely return Haitian citizens to their country," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wrote to President Obama on Wednesday after the earthquake Tuesday.

The temporary status "is in the range of considerations," said DHS spokesman Matt Chandler.

Temporary Protected Status is granted for a specific period, such as 18 months, but it can be extended. Honduras' and Nicaragua's designations date to 1999 after Hurricane Mitch.

Shannon LaGuerre, a New York immigration attorney whose parents are Haitian, said TPS would allow Haitians here to get jobs and send money home. "People there can purchase things and get back on their feet," she said.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates less immigration, backs TPS for Haitians if it has an end date, President Dan Stein said. He added that the status should be terminated for countries where the crises have passed.

"In some cases, such as TPS for citizens of El Salvador, the triggering event occurred nearly a decade ago," he said, referring to earthquakes in 2001.

LaGuerre said several of her clients, including Marie Christina Joseph, 29, would benefit.

Joseph came to the USA by boat from Haiti in 2000. She could be deported, but LaGuerre plans to make the case that her marriage to a U.S. citizen makes her eligible for legal permanent residency.

Meanwhile, the mother of three children who are U.S. citizens hopes for TPS so she can work and help pay the $1,200 rent on the family's one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. She also wants to send money to family in Haiti, including an 11-year-old daughter, two brothers and her father. She hasn't been able to reach them since the quake.

"I'm going to try to send clothing and blankets. Anything I can do, I would like to do," she said. "This country needs help now."
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They need to be deported on schedule and go to work rebuilding their homeland.

Originally Posted by Judy

They need to be deported on schedule and go to work rebuilding their homeland.

Thank you Judy, you nailed it.

Originally Posted by miguelina

Originally Posted by Judy

They need to be deported on schedule and go to work rebuilding their homeland.

Thank you Judy, you nailed it.

You're most welcome.