Thread: Trump gives Liberian immigrants 1 year to leave or face deportation

Trump gives Liberian immigrants 1 year to leave or face deportation

By Conor Finnegan
Mar 27, 2018, 8:39 PM ET

President Donald Trump is ending a program that has allowed approximately 3,600 Liberians to stay in the U.S. for over two decades, giving them one year from now to leave the country or face deportation.

It's the latest example of Trump ending a program that's protected tens of thousands of immigrants from various countries from deportation and kept them in the U.S. legally. It comes as the president and his allies seek to quietly but steadily change immigration in America by reversing previous presidents' executive actions.

One immigrant advocacy group called Trump's move "harsh, cruel, and disgusting."

The program, called Deferred Enforced Departure, or DED, is for Liberians who in the past were granted what's called Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, after the civil war in Liberia. In 2007, President George W. Bush ended TPS for Liberia, but allowed recipients already in the U.S. to apply for DED instead, an action President Barack Obama renewed throughout his two terms.

That latest renewal was set to expire on Saturday, March 31, and Tuesday Trump gave formal notification that he is ending the program and giving recipients one year to leave the U.S. or possibly face deportation.

To critics, the decision threatens to uproot thousands of law-abiding Liberian immigrants who have been in the U.S. for a generation.

"This is home for me, and the thought of leaving my daughter is emotional. I’m pleading with the President and Congress to extend DED," one recipient, Nancy Harris of Alabama — who's been in the U.S. for 18 years with her husband, a pastor -- told reporters Monday.

But immigration hawks say the decision is a return to the law's original intention, given that the war in Liberia ended long ago. That reasoning was laid out in Trump's decision, writing in his formal letter to the secretaries of Homeland Security and State, "Through consultation with appropriate executive departments and agencies and my advisors, I have been informed that conditions in Liberia have improved. Liberia is no longer experiencing armed conflict and has made significant progress in restoring stability and democratic governance."

"Accordingly, I find that conditions in Liberia no longer warrant a further extension of DED, but that the foreign policy interests of the United States warrant affording an orderly transition ("wind-down") period to Liberian DED beneficiaries," he added.

That "wind-down" will last one year from Saturday, giving beneficiaries until March 31, 2019, to either change their immigration status, leave the country, or be deported.

Trump's decision was met with fury and anxiety by his critics and Liberian recipients' defenders.

"Let’s be clear: This decision was a show of heart by the Trump Administration," said Patrice Lawrence, the national policy and advocacy director of UndocuBlack Network, an immigrant advocacy group focused on black people. "To ask people who have been here since the late 1990's to leave is harsh, cruel, and disgusting. You have a large group of people who now feel unstable. We see this administration’s relentless anti-immigrant policy and rhetoric as a concerted effort to make every immigrant undocumented."

Many vowed not to depart without a fight.

"To see that Liberians in the United States have stabilized their lives — and I think that’s part of the American Dream and the pursuit of happiness — and still uproot us and send us back to Liberia will force us to become refugees all over again," said Caroline Grimes, a DED recipient in Minnesota. "We must let Donald Trump know that this decision is unacceptable."

Trump similarly ended TPS for other countries, including El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Sudan.

El Salvador is the largest single group of TPS holders with about 262,500 beneficiaries, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which manages the program. Salvadorans have until Sept. 9, 2019, to either adjust their immigration status, leave the U.S. or face potential deportation.

Approximately 58,600 Haitians with protected status will lose their benefits on July 22, 2019, while status for 5,300 Nicaraguan beneficiaries is set to terminate on Jan. 5, 2019, and just over 1,000 Sudanese TPS holders will no longer be eligible as of Nov. 2, 2018.

In November, then-Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke delayed a decision for 86,000 Hondurans — the second largest group of TPS holders — and determined the department needed more information. The delay triggered a six-month extension for Honduras with a new expiration date of July 5, 2018. DHS is required to provide a 60-day notice before terminating any designation.

There has been talk of Congress stepping in and aiding these groups, but so far, no legislative fix has gained steam.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump...ry?id=54054555

Good!!!



Should end ALL TPS of all kinds for all reasons. There really is no valid reason for TPS today. It needs to be ended in total immediately with wind downs on everyone operating on such. Get 'em out, get 'em all out. All countries.

Good job so far!! Keep it rolling.

Give them 90 days!

They have milked the US taxpayers long enough!

Sell out, pack up and ship out!

Start handing out notices to show up on the dock and deport them out of here!


THIS IS NOT YOUR HOME!

THEY NEVER WANT TO LEAVE...STOP BRINGING THEM HERE!!!

AMERICAN'S ARE PLEADING WITH TRUMP TO RAMP UP DEPORTATIONS AND PUT A 10 YEAR MORATORIUM ON ALL IMMIGRATION!

Trump ends deportation protections for Liberians

Alan Gomez, USA TODAY Published 7:12 p.m. ET March 27, 2018 | Updated 11:06 a.m. ET March 28, 2018

President Trump announced on Tuesday he will end a special immigration program that has allowed nearly 4,000 Liberians to legally live and work in the U.S. over the past 25 years.

The decision follows the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. They will have to return to their countries as deadlines for each country approach in the next 18 months.

Now, Liberians will face the same decision: whether to leave the country or risk becoming undocumented immigrants facing deportation.

Liberians were first granted TPS in March 1991 under former President George H.W. Bush due to armed conflicts that were gripping the country. Starting in 1999, Liberians were transferred into a separate program called Deferred Enforced Departure, a classification that allowed them to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

That status was approved several times by former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama as the country grappled with a civil war, ongoing armed conflicts, and an outbreak of the Ebola virus. But on Tuesday, after consulting with the departments of State and Homeland Security, Trump concluded that those conditions had been largely resolved.

Liberians will have 12 months to get their affairs in order and return to their home country.

"I have been informed that conditions in Liberia have improved," Trump wrote in a presidential memorandum. "Liberia is no longer experiencing armed conflict and has made significant progress in restoring stability and democratic governance. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease caused a tragic loss of life and economic damage to the country, but Liberia has made tremendous progress in its ability to diagnose and contain future outbreaks of the disease."

That summary, however, ignores the ongoing problems facing Liberia and the contributions that Liberians have made while living in the U.S., said Jeanne Atkinson, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

Atkinson also said the decision must be viewed in the context of Trump referring to African nations as "shithole countries."

"Allowing Liberians to remain in the United States until their country can safely welcome them home is a matter of human decency," Atkinson said. "The president's crude comments about African nations are fresh in our memories. This is another racially motivated step to dismantle our humanitarian immigration program."

Rose Knuckles Bull, a Liberian who has been living in New York under the program, said her years of work for a fire department and a voter registration office will be tossed aside if she's forced to return to a country she hasn't seen for nearly a quarter century.

"It would be unfair to force us to return to Liberia without anything, and start all over again at this age," she said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ans/464198002/

IT IS HARSH, CRUEL AND DISGUSTING TO EXPECT TAXPAYERS TO FOOT THE BILL FOR THE ENITRE WORLD'S POOR!!!!

GO HOME AND BUILD AMERICA ON YOUR SOIL.

AMERICAN'S HAVE LOST THEIR JOBS AND ARE HOMELESS AT "THEIR" AGE! MANY ARE OVER 50 YEARS OLD AND THIS IS OUR HOME!

YOU PEOPLE ARE KILLING US TAKING JOBS, DRIVING WAGES DOWN, DESTROYING NEIGHBORHOODS, BREEDING OUT OF CONTROL, SAPPING OUR SOCIAL SERVICES!

SHOULD HAVE NEVER ALLOWED THEM TO STAY THIS LONG!


TERMINATE THESE FAILED POLICIES!

Yes, they are all bankrupting our country, get them all out of here, pronto!!

"It would be unfair to force us to return to Liberia without anything, and start all over again at this age," she said.

"To see that Liberians in the United States have stabilized their lives — and I think that’s part of the American Dream and the pursuit of happiness — and still uproot us and send us back to Liberia will force us to become refugees all over again,"

A reason to become hardhearted and keep the barn door closed in the first place. Almost anybody we allow into this country will be better off. And that becomes addictive and they will never want to go back.

They want America?

Boot them out...they have land, they have resources and they can damn well go build it on their soil.

SORRY...we are NOT going to hand our blood, sweat and tears what WE have fought for over to YOU on a silver platter.

Now get them out and bring no more!