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Haitian Immigrant Deportations Should Be Halted April 1st, 2011
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has resumed deportations to Haiti, a development about which we are deeply concerned. Deportations place an unnecessary burden on Haiti, which is still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake of January 2010. Reconstruction continues in the country, but at a very slow pace, with hundreds of thousands of people still living in tent cities. What is worse is that Haiti’s jails, where the Haitian government usually holds deportees, are notorious for their inhumane treatment of detainees.
Deportations from the U.S. to Haiti had been halted on humanitarian grounds when the earthquake devastated Haiti. On January 20, 2011, the U.S. resumed deportations to Haiti, deporting an estimated 27 people of Haitian origin with criminal records. One has died already in prison from cholera-like symptoms.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Migration has expressed deep opposition to the recent resumption of deportations, citing the slow recovery from the earthquake, the recent outbreak of cholera, and concern that this would communicate the wrong message to the Haitian people, who are depending upon the United States for long-term support in their effort to recover from the earthquake.
U.S. Suspends Deportations of Undocumented Haitians Due to Earthquake January 14th, 2010
In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, United States Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on January 13 that it is temporarily suspending deportations of all undocumented Haitians living in the United States. There was no immediate indication that the federal government would grant Haitian nationals needed Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Temporary protected status is a special state granted to immigrants of certain nationalities who are unable to return to their countries because of armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Somalia refugees have been granted TPS. Haiti clearly qualifies.
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