The Biden administration plans to protect about 300,000 Haitians from deportation and allow them to work in the country, according to three people familiar with the matter. This is the latest step to protect immigrants from returning to countries with dire conditions.
The government’s plan would make Haitians who arrived after November 2022 and before early June eligible for temporary protected status, the three people said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly. It comes amid a flurry of new immigration measures from President Biden. These include efforts to make it easier for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to obtain U.S. citizenship and to block asylum applications at the southern border.
Mr. Biden has moved toward a more restrictive stance on the southern border in what some see as an attempt to boost his re-election chances. He has drawn criticism of his policies from both sides — from the left, including immigration activists who condemn his crackdown on asylum, and from the right, including former President Donald J. Trump, who see him as too soft on those who do so who enter the US country illegally.
The Biden administration has used Temporary Protected Status in recent years to protect hundreds of thousands of migrants, including from countries such as Venezuela, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Haiti.
The Haiti protection measures came as Haiti has been hit by violence and unrest, including the assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse, in 2021. Gangs have taken control of much of the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas granted temporary protected status to Haiti in 2021 and renewed that status in late 2022.
Although the government is protecting some Haitians from deportation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have continued to deport people into the country in recent months.
Earlier this year, ICE officials deported dozens of Haitians to a location just hours north of the country’s capital. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement at the time that Haitians had legal ways to enter the United States.
“We continue to encourage Haitians to utilize the safe and orderly avenues available to them, including the humanitarian parole process for Haitian nationals,” the statement said.
Since July 2023, the State Department has evacuated families of embassy staff from the country and warned U.S. visitors not to visit, saying it was unsafe for Americans due to “kidnappings, crime, unrest and poor health infrastructure.”
In March, the United Nations reported that gang violence had killed more than 1,500 Haitians this year.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned at the end of April after local gangs pressured him to keep him abroad.
“We have served the nation in difficult times,” Mr. Henry wrote in his resignation letter. “I understand the losses and suffering that our compatriots have had to endure during this time.”
Democratic lawmakers asked the Biden administration in a letter in March to expand protections and suspend deportations to the country.
“The escalation of the serious danger faced by Haitians in their homeland fully satisfies the requirements for a renaming of the TPS and a suspension of all deportation flights to Haiti,” said the letter signed by 67 democratic and independent lawmakers. “Both steps are necessary to ensure that the United States does not return Haitian nationals to a government that is unable to protect its citizens – and often subjects them to repression and violence – and to gangs that brutally harass residents and operate without restrictions.”
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2024-06-28 17:54:08
www.nytimes.com