- Title: U.S. extends 'temporary protected status' to Haitians until January
- Date: 22nd May 2017
- Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MAY 17, 2017) (REUTERS) OVERHEAD VIEW OF MAKESHIFT TENT VARIOUS OF CHILDREN OUTSIDE OF TENT LAUNDRY HANGING ABOVE TENTS NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - MAY 12, 2017) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING DOWN SIDEWALK MAN ON BICYCLE, WOMAN CROSSING THE STREET AND PEOPLE ON THE SIDEWALK SIGN FOR A CARIBBEAN BAKERY VARIOUS OF HAITIAN FLAG IN STORE WINDOW EXTERIOR OF RADIO SOLEIL VARIOUS OF RADIO SOLEIL STATION MANAGER, RICOT DUPUY, IN RADIO STUDIO (SOUNDBITE) (English) RADIO SOLEIL STATION MANAGER, RICOT DUPUY, SAYING: "It's a near panic situation. In all the Haitian families, that is what's being discussed on the top of the agenda. It's disbelief. They don't think they would ever come to that point. TPS (Temporary Protected Status) has been renewed three times and they kind of expected it to happen, simply because the reasons that caused TPS to be granted are essentially the same and to some degree have worsened." DUPUY IN RADIO STUDIO (SOUNDBITE) (English) RADIO SOLEIL STATION MANAGER, RICOT DUPUY, SAYING: "They feel proud for being quote legal here. They see the TPS as legalizing their status here. And all of a sudden, there is that threat of reverting to the situation in Haiti. When they talk about it, you can see the fear, fear. That's how I can summarize it. It's the fear in their voice, in their attitude. And you can see Haitians in the streets of New York talking to each other over the phone and you're hearing 'TPS'. It's that bad. It's that bad." PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MAY 17, 2017) (REUTERS) WOMAN WITH BABY STANDING IN FRONT OF MAKESHIFT SHELTER LOCATED IN TENT CAMP VARIOUS OF RUNDOWN MAKESHIFT SHELTERS IN TENT CAMPS TENT CAMP RESIDENT, CLERMENTHA, WHO HAS BEEN LIVING IN THE TENT CAMP FOR SEVEN YEARS, EMERGING FROM SHELTER (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) TENT CAMP RESIDENT, CLERMENTHA, SAYING: "When the children are malnourished, I cry a lot. I say, 'that is life.' But I know my God is in heaven. I am waiting for him. We wait for God because he won't let us not spend our entire life here in the camp. We wait for God." CLERMENTHA SITTING OUTSIDE MAKESHIFT SHELTER MAKESHIFT TENT WITH BLUE TARP ON IT PEOPLE WALKING WITHIN TENTS LITTLE GIRLS EATING (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) TENT CAMP RESIDENT, CLERMENTHA, SAYING: "The Haitian state hasn't done anything for us. Each day, the officials pass through here. They look at us. They see us. Sometimes the children are naked in the streets, under the dirty tents. They look at the kids, they take their pictures but they don't tell us anything." MAN WALKING PAST POLICE BASE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPRESENTATIVE, ANTHONAL MORTIME, IN OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPRESENTATIVE, ANTHONY MORTIME, SAYING: "We think that seven years after the 2010 earthquake, Haiti has no government housing plan, no plan to rebuild public buildings - and proper accommodations where a family can live." POORLY CONSTRUCTED MAKESHIFT SHELTER (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPRESENTATIVE, ANTHONAL MORTIME, SAYING: "As a Haitian, I am optimistic, hoping that he [President Trump] will reinstate the TPS. If not, it could create a lot of problems, like a humanitarian catastrophe if those Haitians returning to the country don't have any place to live, nothing to eat. Without a doubt, there are immigrants who depend on three or four people that live here in Haiti." WOMAN SITTING WITH CHILDREN OUTSIDE OF MAKESHIFT SHELTER TATTERED MAKESHIFT TENT
- Embargoed: 5th June 2017 19:09
- Keywords: shelter Haiti immigration status tent city Port-au-prince TPS Trump Radio Soleil
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
- Country: USA
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016HX9OAV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will allow more than 50,000 victims of Haiti's 2010 earthquake to remain in the United States with work authorizations until January 2018, department officials told reporters on Monday (May 22).
The Obama administration first granted protections to Haitians who came to the United States within a year of the devastating earthquake and it has since been extended.
Three DHS officials, who agreed to speak to reporters only on the condition of anonymity, said Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has assessed the situation in Haiti and believes conditions there are improving but still necessitate protected status for Haitians living in the United States.
The officials said, however, that Haitians in the United States under what is known as temporary protected status (TPS) should begin acquiring travel documents to return to Haiti, noting that DHS has not committed to extending protections past January.
U.S. law allows DHS to grant temporary protected status to citizens of countries ravaged by violence, disease and natural disasters.
Other countries designated for temporary protected status include Sudan, Somalia, Syria, El Salvador, Nepal and Yemen.
New York City's Flatbush neighborhood is home to a sizable Haitian community where Caribbean businesses dot the area. Inside, Radio Soleil, which calls itself the voice of the Haitian community, station manager Ricot Dupuy hears the concerns of Haitians living and working in New York.
Dupuy said Haitian families have been living in fear since the Miami Herald published an internal memo the last month from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of DHS that recommended an end to Haiti's TPS designation.
DHS was advised that the poor nation no longer qualifies for emergency immigration protection.
"It's a near panic situation," said Dupuy. "In all the Haitian families, that is what's being discussed on the top of the agenda. It's disbelief. They don't think they would ever come to that point. TPS has been renewed three times and they kind of expected it to happen, simply because the reasons that caused TPS to be granted are essentially the same and to some degree have worsened."
Dupuy added that Haitians feel proud to live and work legally in the U.S. "They see the TPS as legalizing their status here. And all of a sudden, there is that threat of reverting to the situation in Haiti."
Inside Haiti, as of 2015, 79,000 people were still living in Port-au-Prince's tent camps. The squalid conditions were compounded last October when Hurricane Matthew slammed into the island nation.
In a tent camp near the neighborhood of Petion-Ville, Clermentha has lived in a wooden and aluminum shack for the past seven years.
"I cry a lot," she said. "I say, 'that is life.' But I know my God is in heaven. I am waiting for him. We wait for God because we will not spend our entire life here in the camp."
She added, "The Haitian state hasn't done anything for us. Each day, the officials pass there. They are always looking at us. They take photos of our naked children. They have not said anything."
Anthonal Mortime, a representative from Human Rights Watch in Haiti said, "Seven years after the 2010 earthquake, Haiti doesn't have any plan for social accommodations, nor a plan to rebuild public buildings, accommodations where a family can live."
Even though the U.S. has extended TPS through January, it only postpones what Mortime said would be "a humanitarian catastrophe" when the more than 50,000 Haitians living in the U.S. are forced to return to Haiti.
"It could create a lot of problems," he said, "If those Haitians returning to the country don't have any place to live, nothing to eat."
The Department of Homeland Security will issue a notice to the Federal Register to extend temporary protected status within the coming days. After a 60-day period, Haitians under the status will be given new work authorizations valid until January. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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