Jan 14 2010

ACTION: Stop Deportations To Haiti

(2:30PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

This is a straightforward and important request.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker-based and widely respected Washington lobby for peace and justice, is asking for letters to President Obama and our Congresspersons urging the U.S. government to immediately act to grant Temporary Protected Status to the 30,000 Haitian immigrants presently facing deportation.  That means that attempts to deport Haitians back to their ravaged country would be halted.

The Friends Committee has made this easy.  Just click here and follow the instructions.

Let compassion guide us on this.

Updated: 1/14/10, 1:40 pm ET: There is in place an informal halt to deportations.  It was announced late yesterday by DHS.  It does not grant Temporary Protected Status. Because this issue may continue into the far future, Temporary Protected Status would be an extra measure of security which will allow Haitians to remain at large and work without fear of detention and accumulate funds to send to relatives who are in desperate need.

————————-

simulposted at The Dream Antilles and dailyKos

12 comments

Skip to comment form

  2. I found this news in the Miami Herald. Any way to verify this?

    U.S. halts deportations of undocumented Haitians due to earthquake

    BY TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA AND ALFONSO CHARDY

    [email protected]

    In the aftermath of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake, the Obama administration announced Wednesday it was temporarily suspending deportations of undocumented Haitians.

    But there was no immediate indication that the federal government would grant Haitian nationals Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, an immigration benefit long sought by Haitian activists and South Florida lawmakers.

    There needs to be more than a temporary pause from the feds, we need solutions. What else can we do?

    • pfiore8 on January 14, 2010 at 20:13
    • #

    because it’s the right thing to do . . .

    that’d be a refreshing change. . .

  4. excellent diary up now at orange from “ImmigrationPolicyCenter”. T & R’d.

    • Dexter on January 15, 2010 at 20:15
    • #

    but I’m not sure how I feel about TPS.  I actually work in immigration advocacy and we are pushing for TPS.  My fear is that TPS will be granted, Haitians will have said status for 5, 10, 15 years or more.  They will settle into good paying jobs.  They will raise families.  They will become integral parts of their community.  

    Then the government takes away their TPS status (temporary being the key part of the term) and all of a sudden, they are getting deported.  

    TPS does great things for people (like give them work authorization and the ability to get a driver’s license), but it does not give them a home.    

Comments have been disabled.