Thread: U.S. eases ways Haitians may stay in country; flow of orphan

U.S. eases ways Haitians may stay in country; flow of orphans expected

A security guard instructs members of Canada’s Haitian community as they stand in line at an immigration consulting office in Montreal Jan. 19. They were hoping to help family and friends immigrate to Canada after a magnitude 7 earthquake destroyed much of the capital of Port-au-Prince Jan. 12. (CNS photo/Shaun Best, Reuters)
By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON – With Haitians who survived the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake beginning to look for new places to live, the U.S. is easing immigration restrictions for some Haitians, including those who were here illegally before the quake and orphans.

Meanwhile, aid agencies are beginning to look at how to handle the potential movement of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of displaced people who may try to settle in other countries in the region.

The crisis prompted Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to grant temporary protected status to Haitians who are in the United States, enabling those who qualify to legally remain in the U.S. and work here, even if they previously were in the country illegally. Napolitano also announced Jan. 17 a policy that will allow some orphaned Haitian children to more easily be resettled in the U.S.

The crisis also has led aid organizations to begin planning for the possibility that many Haitians will decide to leave their battered homeland, whether through organized resettlement programs or on their own. Previous political and economic crises prompted tens of thousands of Haitians to flee their country in boats. In the 1990s, many ended up living in tents at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Within a day of the magnitude 7 earthquake, as images of the destruction of the capital city Port-au-Prince dominated the news, Napolitano announced that deportations to Haiti were being suspended. By the end of the week, she had authorized temporary protected status, which will enable between 100,000 and 200,000 Haitians who are currently in the U.S. illegally to remain here and legally hold jobs.

Shaina Aber, associate advocacy director for Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, said that as of summer 2009, there were about 35,000 Haitians in the United States who have final orders to be deported. That means they’re just waiting for the paperwork and final arrangements that would send them home. Of those about 600 are being detained, she said.

Advocates for immigrants, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, have long advocated that temporary protected status be extended to Haitians because of the country’s fragile situation. Such status has been available to certain citizens of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan, whose home countries have been severely affected by war or natural disasters. Typically, the duration of that status is extended if there is no significant improvement in the home country. Napolitano initially granted the status for Haitians for 18 months.

Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami, which has a large Haitian population, was among those calling on President Barack Obama to grant such status to all Haitians in the United States.

In a Jan. 13 statement, he said any attempt to repatriate Haitians “would be to send them to a country in crisis and would certainly condemn them to probable, if not certain, death. This would be grossly inhumane and immoral on the part of the United States.â€

NO, NO, NO... This is like child abduction. Take them from Haiti and make their surviving family follow. Who's separating families?

Set up an orphanage on Haiti and if Americans want a baby, they can go down there and adopt one.

Dixie