Obama wants more Haitians in America

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Obama wants more Haitians in America

Posted on July 29, 2008
Voodoo immigration?

Last year, when Sen. Barack Obama was making the circuit of conventions for journalists of color, the question was whether the prospective candidate was black enough. This year, when he appeared before the UNITY: Journalists of Color convention in Chicago, the presumptive Democratic nominee joked, “I’m too black.”

Obama appeared Sunday at the close of the convention in a session aired live on CNN to talk about his observations from his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. economy and questions from the journalists about faith, affirmative action, immigration and apologies for slavery and to Native Americans.

Asked whether he thought too many immigrants had been allowed into the U.S. and “who should be allowed” into the country, Obama said the issue wasn’t whether to let immigrants in but to develop an official policy that makes it easier to become legal and discourages illegal immigration and penalizes employers who use illegal immigrants to avoid paying fair wages.

He also said there should be greater equity across the board for immigrants as well, pointing out that “it’s much harder for Haitians to immigrate, despite similar circumstances in need” as other groups that have been admitted legally.

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Do the right thing here: Haitians in U.S. illegally should get temporary okay to work

Editorials
Friday, January 15th 2010, 4:00 AM

Today's Other Editorials:
Articles

• Relief effort after this huge disaster needs firm leadership
• Assembly must not wreck charter schools and lose federal aid

The U.S. has halted deportations of Haitians who are in the country illegally, as was only fitting. Regardless of their wrongful place in America, to send these people into hell would be unconscionable.

There is more the government should do. This group is now caught in a halfway zone. They are allowed to be in America, but they are barred from working. The remedy is to grant them what's known as temporary protected status.

As our colleague Juan Gonzalez points out in the column at the right, in extreme circumstances the U.S. lets foreign nationals without proper documents earn livings until things are settled in their home countries.

The horror in Haiti is nothing if not extreme. President Obama should extend temporary protected status to Haitians for the duration.

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Updated January 14, 2010
U.S. Preparing for Potential New Wave of Haitians Fleeing North

By Mike Levine
- FOXNews.com

Haitians have been trying to come to the United States by boat for more than three decades, and U.S. officials are preparing for a potential new refugee crisis after this week's devastating earthquake.



This photo provided by Medecins Sans Frontieres shows wounded people gathered at the office of Medecins Sans Frontieres in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Wednesday Jan. 13, 2010. (AP)

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security is "formulating" plans in case Haitians try to flee their earthquake-ravaged country for the United States, federal officials told FOX News.

For more than three decades, Haitians have been trying to come to the United States by boat, whether driven by poverty or political strife. As of Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard had not encountered anyone in the waters off Haiti trying to reach the U.S. mainland, according to one official, but top U.S. officials have been engaged in "continuing discussions" in case things change, sources say.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and other top department officials have been conferring with the heads of the U.S. Coast Guard, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services about "our capabilities in the region," one source said.
One Homeland Security official described the "continuing discussions" within the department as "a process to figure out what the posture's going to be" if Haitians try to flee what was already considered one of the poorest countries in the world.

In the end, the "senior leadership" at Homeland Security, in consultation with the Defense Department and Justice Department, will make the final decision, the official said.

A top military official told reporters on Thursday that his department is hoping to prevent a mass exodus of Haitians by working "very aggressively" to "mitigate their tragedy," particularly through major relief efforts.

"We've got a lot of work to do, and we're securing and getting those relief efforts in there," said Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command. "That's what we're going to continue to do, and that's the best way we can reduce the aspect of people wanting to leave the island."
If those efforts fail and Haitians do try to flee, several "options are on the table," one official said.

Among the options being considered is use of part of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Migrant Operations Center, as it is called, is a "facility at which undocumented aliens seeking to enter the United States who are interdicted at sea or otherwise encountered in the Caribbean region are provided custody, care, safety, transportation and other needs pending a determination of immigrant status and transfer," according to government documents.

In its current state, the Migrant Operations Center can house about 130 people, but "in the event of a sudden surge in the migrant population" the facility can be modified to house another 400 people.

"Guantanamo is going to be an enormously valuable asset as we go through this," State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters on Thursday, speaking generally about U.S. efforts to help Haiti.

"[Guantanamo] is in the vicinity. ... So we're identifying all of the assets in the region that we can use in order to stage operations."

One official acknowledged that the center likely would become the most viable option "if there was a mass migration" of Haitians from their country.

But, the official said, if only one or two Haitian refugees were "interdicted" at sea, they would likely be brought back to Haiti.

Before any Haitian refugees could be brought to Guantanamo Bay, they would have to undergo a security screening by USCIS, one official said.
Once at the Guantanamo facility, the refugees would be supervised by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the facility and has contracted the Florida-based Geo Group firm to manage day-to-day operations.

Officials involved with the center emphasized that no decision has been made concerning possible refugees from Haiti, but officials said they are prepared just in case.

"We haven't been asked to do anything," one official said. "No one's given us any marching orders. … But if they come to us, we're ready to go."

The U.S. Coast Guard began "interdicting" vessels carrying Haitian refugees in 1981, a year after a so-called "boatlift" of about 25,000 asylum seekers from Haiti arrived in South Florida, according to a State Department report issued in 2005.

Ten years later, after Haiti's first democratically elected president was deposed by military coup, tens of thousands of more Haitians tried to flee for the United States. Many of them were caught by U.S. Coast Guard cutters, which detained hundreds of Haitians while others were brought to nearby countries for safe haven.

But the U.S. vessels "were becoming severely overcrowded" and the "options for safe havens in third countries in the region proved inadequate for the sheer numbers of Haitians fleeing their country," so the first Bush administration "began treating the Haitians fleeing by boat as asylum seekers," according to the report.

The U.S. Coast Guard brought the Haitian refugees to Guantanamo Bay, where they were pre-screened for asylum in the United States, the report said.

More than 10,400 Haitians were paroled into the United States based on interviews at Guantanamo Bay.

The Clinton administration and the most recent Bush administration made it tougher for Haitian asylum seekers to be paroled into the United States.
"The [George W. Bush] administration maintains that paroling Haitians … may encourage other Haitians to embark on the 'risky sea travel' and 'potentially trigger a mass asylum from Haiti to the United States,'" according to the 2005 report.

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South Florida schools prepare to deal with influx of Haitian kids

Public schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties plan to open their doors to children arriving from Haiti.

BY KATHLEEN McGRORY AND HANNAH SAMPSON
kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com

South Florida school districts say they will be ready for the potential influx of Haitian children following this week's earthquake.

The impact on local schools could be significant -- especially if charities move forward with plans to bring thousands of orphaned children to South Florida.

The Miami-Dade school district has already drawn up a specific plan, which includes:

• Establishing three different locations for students needing to attend school. Children will be screened and tested, and given age-appropriate lessons in Haitian Creole. They'll also have access to psychological and support services.

• Readying 320 traditional schools for any new students who may show up for classes.

The school district will also consider creating an off-shore school for children affected by the tragedy. A site could be set up on the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base or possibly in the Dominican Republic, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

``We're well prepared for this,'' Carvalho said, noting the district had to set up emergency schooling sites during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. ``These are waters that we've traveled before.''

In Broward, Schools Superintendent Jim Notter said the district is ``tactically preparing'' by looking at schools that have high populations of Haitian-American students and figuring out how much space they have.

He has asked area superintendents to pull information on the empty seats at those schools and calculate what they would need if all that space got filled: how many teachers, textbooks, supplies and other materials.

``The first piece is to get them into the building and make them feel safe and secure and loved,'' Notter said.

School district administrators weren't able to estimate how many new students would be arriving next week.

``We ought to expect the trickling in of these children,'' Carvalho said. `I've been told by members of the Haitian community that it may be happening very, very soon.''

It was unclear Thursday afternoon if an influx of students would translate to additional money from the state.

Notter, the Broward superintendent, said he wasn't optimistic.
``There's still no money in the state coffer,'' he said.

Carvalho said the Miami-Dade district would look to federal funding.
``This is a federal issue,'' he said. ``We'll be relying on our congressional delegation for support.''

In Miami-Dade, the tentative plan is to set up educational centers at North Miami Senior High and North Miami Elementary, and Campbell Drive Middle and Peskoe Elementary in Homestead.

The district would also open a site at Toussaint Louverture Elementary in the Lemon City neighborhood.

Each of the schools have the capacity to house hundreds of students, Carvalho said.

Students who show up will get vision and hearing screenings, and be given a test to determine their grade level.

Schools officials were working to develop a specialized curriculum for students at the centers. The focus will be on reading, math and learning about living in the United States, Carvalho said.

The lessons will be provided in Haitian Creole, said Joanne Urrutia, the district's head of bilingual services. Teachers and administrators were also working to prepare for students who have had little or no formal schooling.

``We will likely receive many students who have very little literacy in any language,'' Urrutia said. ``We're developing an approach depending on instructional needs.''

Students who come to the centers will have the option to transfer to traditional schools.

As for orphans or children who come to without adults, Carvalho said the old Homestead Hospital building, which the School Board now owns, could be turned into a staging area for a residential school.

If the school system develops an off-shore site, the district will provide a team of teachers, psychologists and administrators.

The school district last deployed teachers to an overseas school during the Mariel Boatlift.

``In our industry, we ask no questions,'' Carvalho said. ``Children come to us. We hug them. We educate them. We love them.''

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Report: Thousands of Haiti earthquake refugees could be sent to Orlando

The plan would relocate Haiti earthquake refugees to Central Florida.



American Red Cross officials Thursday said more than 4,000 Haitian refugees could be coming to Central Florida soon.

The WFTV.com report shows the organization plans to bring the Haitian refugees, as well as more than 45,000 U.S. nationals living in Haiti, to Jacksonville and then divide them among other Florida cities, including Tampa, Miami and Orlando.

Orange County mayor Rich Crotty said the large number of evacuees coming to the area from Haiti could pose problems for Orlando.

"We're very stressed financially right now, and this is going to add to that stress," Crotty said. "So this is a balance we're going to have to work on strengthening."

Catholic Charities and other South Florida immigrant rights organizations also are planning an ambitious effort to airlift thousands of Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of Tuesday's horrific earthquake — a move mirroring Operation Pedro Pan in the 1960s.

"We will use the model we used 40 years ago with Pedro Pan to bring these orphans to the United States to give them a lifeline, a bright and hopeful future," Catholic Charities Legal Services executive director Randolph McGrorty said Thursday at a news conference in the offices of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

"Given the enormity of what happened in Haiti, a priority is to bring these orphaned children to the United States," he said.

Archdiocese of Miami officials and other local organizations have already identified a temporary shelter in Broward County to house the children, McGrorty said.

He also said they had been in contact with the Obama administration to assist in bringing the children from Haiti with humanitarian visas.

Operation Pedro Pan was launched on Dec. 26, 1960, as part of a successful clandestine effort to spirit children out of Fidel Castro's new Cuba as communist indoctrination was spreading into Catholic and private schools.

By the time it ended 22 months later, the unique exodus of children—ages 5 to 17 — had brought 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban minors to America, with the secret help of the U.S. government, which funded the effort and supplied the visa waivers, and the Catholic church, which promised to care for the children.

The late Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, a Miami priest, was considered the father of the effort.

As the children filtered into Miami and their numbers swelled, many went to live with relatives and family friends, but others were sent to Miami-Dade group homes and camps called Florida City, Kendall and Matecumbe. They were then relocated across the country to archdioceses in places like Nebraska, Washington and Indiana. There, they went to live in orphanages, foster homes and schools until their parents could find a way out of Cuba. Sometimes the separation was brief; sometimes it lasted years.

McClatchy News Service and Tribune Newspapers contributed to this report. Copyright © 2010, Orlando Sentinel

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Plan To Bring Haitians To Central Fla. Not Set In Stone


Posted: 11:31 pm EST January 14, 2010Updated: 12:47 pm EST January 15, 2010

Comment On This Story ››

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The American Red Cross says a plan to bring 45,000 evacuees from Haiti to Florida, and 4,000 of those to Orange County, is not set in stone.

The Red Cross clarified Friday who could be involved in a plan to move people out of Haiti. The Red Cross is preparing for two things: the repatriation of Americans living in Haiti and the possibility of a mass migration of Haitian nationals.

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VIDEO REPORT: Haitian Refugees Could Come To Orlando
LOCAL HELP: Central Fla. Organizations Join In
SPECIAL SECTION: Quake Recovery Updates, Donation Info

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The American Red Cross has seen massive migration into the U.S. from areas like Kosovo and Bosnia in the past, but no determination has been made yet in the case of Haiti. But the repatriation of Americans has already begun.

Eyewitness News was told that it includes people like missionaries who may have already been working in Haiti before the quake. The U.S. citizens are being brought into South Florida through Miami and Homestead, where their identities can be verified.

Thursday night, five flights arrived with 190 Americans on board.“I think that we will continue see U.S. citizens coming in over the weekend and through the beginning of next week. And that would be our first focus and first wave and, I think, as the conditions are assessed in Haiti and some decisions are made both with our federal government and the Haitian government about what’s best for their citizens,”

Director of Emergency Services Becky Sebren said.Americans continued to arrive in South Florida Friday afternoon and, as the United States plans its strategy to help Haiti, the state closest to the island nation is taking center stage with a plan to bring tens of thousands of refugees to Florida and approximately 4,000 to Orlando.

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty says he has some concerns with the possible plan. If Haitians are brought to Central Florida, the county, city and possibly other area communities will have to scramble to figure out where to put the earthquake victims, and it will be a tough challenge.

"It would occur to me that there is a legal process associated with that and it would probably have to come through the State Department in terms of citizenship and visas, work visas [and] that sort of thing," Mayor Crotty said.What that influx of people brings with it is a very large service demand, particularly in the area of social services in what is already a tough economy.

"We're very stressed financially right now and this is going to add to that stress," Mayor Crotty said. "So this is a balance we're going to have to work on strengthening."Governor Charlie Crist told Eyewitness News Friday that, while he's talked to the Secretary of Homeland Security about bringing Haitians to Florida, nothing has been decided at this point.Governor Crist was at a jobs summit in Orlando Friday morning.

Crist wouldn't confirm whether Haitian refugees would be coming to Central Florida; he did say that Florida has pledged to do everything it can to help those in need after the earthquake."We want to be in touch with the State Department, making sure we're doing what is necessary for these people to get the help they need and deserve," Crist said.

Governor Crist said, because of mild hurricane seasons for the past several years, there are a lot of relief supplies available in Florida. He said some of those supplies will be used to help Haitians in need.Additionally, the State of Florida has opened a new emergency information hotline about the Haiti quake.

It's meant to give Floridians a link to informational resources on the international response and recovery efforts.The hotline number is 1-800-342-3557.

You can call for information between the hours of 10:00am until 6:00pm.

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One More Thing Obama Can Do for Haitians

Posted: January 15, 2010 11:31 AM

In responding to the tragedy in Haiti, President Obama wasted no time in initiating one of the largest humanitarian mobilizations in U.S. history.

In doing so, he sent the world a clear message that the Haitian rescue and recovery effort is a global responsibility. Other nations followed with an outpouring of aid, as did individuals with contributions to charities around the world.

An important next step is for the U.S. to protect current and future Haitian refugees by granting them Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

Homeland Security grants TPS to those who can't return to their home country because of armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. TPS allows these refugees to stay and work legally in the U.S. until conditions in their native countries improve.

Already an effort is underway in the progressive religious community to grant Haitians Temporary Protected Status. Today, Catholics United called on its 42,000 members to sign a petition asking President Obama to extend the protections through executive order. (Meanwhile leaders on the Religious Right like Pat Robertson are bringing shame with their hurtful and bigoted remarks.)

Right now the most urgent priorities are to rescue those trapped in the rubble and provide food, water, and medical care to the earthquake survivors. But soon will begin a long and painful rebuilding process -- in a country that was the poorest in the Western Hemisphere even before the disaster hit.

While larger immigration reform is needed, TPS will go a long way toward easing the burden on Haiti's decimated infrastructure and allow Haitians living in the U.S. to provide much-needed financial support to their families back home.

Tragically, the anti-immigrant community will likely oppose TPS. It's important to remember that TPS is already a longstanding component of U.S. immigration policy. In the past, it's been granted to refugees from Somali, El Salvador, Sudan, and Honduras. There is absolutely no reason to deny it to Haitian refugees.

The U.S. is taking a leading role in the Haitian recovery, and extending TPS protections is an essential component of that recovery. It's also the right thing to do.

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Crist: Plans to shelter Haitian refugees in Florida depends on federal government

• By Jim Turner
• Posted January 15, 2010 at 2:59 p.m.

ORLANDO — With hurricane supplies stacked up for three years, the state is in a position to provide relief to Haitians devastated by a major earthquake earlier this week.

However, Gov. Charlie Crist added that any plan to shelter Haitian refugees and U.S. nationals living in Haiti in several locations throughout Florida will depend upon the federal government.

“We’ll have to see, we’ve got to work with our federal friends on how that is done, if necessary, in a very organized and cooperative way,” Crist said during a pause in the state’s 2010 economic job summit in Orlando Friday.

WFTV.com in Orlando reported Thursday that more than 4,000 Haitian refugees could be coming to Central Florida, as the Red Cross plans to bring the Haitian refugees, as well as more than 45,000 U.S. nationals living in Haiti, to cities such as Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Orlando.

Crist said he’s been in touch with the Department of Homeland Security regarding Florida’s role in the relief efforts in Haiti.

“We want to be in touch with the state department, make sure that we’re doing what is necessary for these people to get the help they need and deserve,” Crist said. “This is about providing humanitarian support, providing the comfort that this country needs.”

According to WFTV.com, Catholic Charities and other South Florida immigrant rights organizations plan to airlift thousands of Haitian children orphaned by Tuesday’s earthquake.

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South Florida Haitians want immigration laws relaxed; opponents say would invite refugee crisis

By Gary Reese
Florida Insider

January 14, 2010 — The South Florida Haitian community already is rekindling its longstanding political gripe that undocumented Haitian refugees aren’t allowed to stay stateside to work for at least six months under the federal Temporary Protective Status laws. Expect American-Haitians to petition Washington – with likely emotional appeals to President Obama – to grant TPS status for Haitians. Also expect a counter-lobby to argue that a change on TPS now would invite a mass exodus of Haitians to South Florida. The politics of race could enter into it before it’s over.

--The political and media exploitation of the Haitian earthquake disaster reached its negative apotheosis with the Rev. Pat Robertson’s already infamous comment that Haiti has condemned itself to disfavor from God because of the supposed satanic underpinnings to country’s 18^th-century independence rebellion against France. It remains to be seen how much residual political fallout might follow in the wake of the comments by the Virginia-based Robertson, who was a Republican candidate for president in 1988. But some on the Christian right already are defending him. Said Gary Cass, chairman and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, "A simple reading of the Bible shows how God uses natural disasters to further his purposes."

--The hawks are gone from the Georgia House. Speaker David Ralston announced Thursday he has rescinded the appointments by the previous administration of hawks. Hawks were ex officio members of all standing committees and subcommittees who could be sent in at any time to help pass or defeat a bill.

“While this system was initiated to enable House committees to more readily meet their quorum requirements, it has become a tool used strictly for partisan purposes,” said Ralston in a statement. “Under my leadership, I am committed to working across the aisle and ensuring an equal voice to all House members no matter their party affiliation.” (See insideradvantagegeorgia.)

--Tennessee US Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) has long been a proponent of legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, but he never thought his activism would put him on the same stage as comedy pothead actors Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. The daffy duo was present this week at the Marijuana Policy Project's 15th annual gala near Capitol Hill in Washington, where they received awards for giving pot a middle class appeal. Cohen was unapologetic. He also claims that his own internal polls show that Memphians support medical marijuana by 3-1.

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After the Quake: Should Haitian Refugees Be Given

By CARMEN GENTILE Friday, Jan. 15, 2010

Even before the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, Haiti was an economic and security nightmare — abysmally poor, politically unstable, the threat of gang violence continually beneath the surface. And yet, unlike undocumented immigrants from similarly troubled countries, those from the island nation detained by U.S. immigration officials have quickly been ordered to be deported back. Now, the catastrophe may lead the Obama Administration to reconsider the controversial policy. Indeed, soon after the earthquake, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano imposed a temporary halt to deportations, allowing 30,000 Haitians with expulsion orders to remain in the U.S.

(See TIME's exclusive pictures of the earthquake's destruction.)

Until the President decides otherwise, however, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that grants a semblance of asylum to migrants from six countries will still exclude those from Haiti. According to the Department of Homeland Security, TPS is granted to "aliens in the United States who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions." Much of those conditions are historical: immigrants from El Salvador and Nicaragua, for example, enjoy the status because of natural disasters in the 1990s and early part of the decade. Neither has the same level of impoverishment as Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere. (Other countries that enjoy TPS status are Honduras, Burundi, Sudan and Somalia.) The Bush Administration said that conditions in Haiti did not warrant TPS.

(See pictures of earthquake devastation in Haiti.)

The issue, however, is snarled in political and populist fears that TPS would result in a flood of refugees to the U.S. from the island. Others say that such a magnet for refugees would only endanger those trying to make the dangerous crossing. Last year, at least 15 Haitians drowned in shark-infested waters off the coast of Turks and Caicos when a smuggler's boat crammed with more than 200 migrants began to take on water. That sinking followed a similar tragedy just off the east coast of Florida. "We're concerned that migrant smugglers will use this issue to encourage more people to go for it, to go now," says Capt.

Peter Brown, who noted that the Coast Guard does not have an official policy on whether Haitians should receive TPS. "But all that does is put more people in the water." The earthquake has increased concerns that more Haitians will take to the sea in search of succor in the U.S. and coastal watches have increased in the U.S. gulf coast.

(See aerial pictures of the damage caused by Haiti's earthquake.)

But the advocates of Haitian migrants argue that allowing undocumented aliens to work in the U.S. could actually stem the flow of refugees. Last year alone, Haitians in the U.S. sent an estimated $1.8 billion in remittances back home. That, of course, is not enough to transform an economic basket case but it is an important lifeline.

Many advocates were hopeful that an African American President would sympathize with the dire plight of those hailing from the world's first black republic. However, President Obama said in June he would not alter U.S. policy towards Haitian immigrants in the near future, though he would review it as part of a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration policy.

Immigrant advocates like Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, don't think Haitians should have to wait for the Obama administration to pass a comprehensive immigration reform package. The way she sees it, "all it takes is the stroke of the pen" by the President for Haitians to be granted TPS. "We had great hopes that the Obama administration would do this quickly because it's an easy thing to do."

(Will criminal gangs take over Haiti's capital?)

"We are the most entitled to TPS," says Father Reginald Jean May, a Catholic priest and a leading voice in the south Florida Haitian community. "When you look at the conditions of Haiti and all it's been through, the hurricanes and political instability, Haitians deserve better treatment. We are not jealous of other immigrant groups — we just want the same thing they have."

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FEMA memo sparked Haiti refugee rumors

Uncategorized — posted by aaron deslatte on January, 19 2010 4:10 PM Discuss This: Comments(0) | Add to del.icio.us | Digg it

By Josh Hafenbrack and Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — State officials are doing a lot of work dispelling rumors of a mass influx of migrant Haitians displaced by last week’s devastating earthquake.

They can point a finger at FEMA, in part, for the scattered media reports of a potential wave of Haitians headed for Orlando. The federal agency sent what’s called a “tasking order” to Florida on Jan 14 instructing them to get ready to help house up to 10,000 Haitian refugees. Read it here: FEMA Tasking for Migration Support

Florida’s Division of Emergency Management had requested the document before it started racking up expenses. According to state emergency response officials, the tasking order was rescinded shortly after it was sent because FEMA isn’t the official lead agency for handing the response and can’t approve reimbursements to the state.

Florida has budgeted $6.7 million for the short-term relief efforts, but can apply to the federal government for reimbursement of those expenses. About 300 to 400 state workers are involved in what’s been dubbed at the state EOC “Operation Haiti Relief.”

“Our sole purpose is humanitarian – the governor has been very clear on this,” Halstead said. “Help the people, get them the aid that they need, and we’ll worry about the financial part of this.”

The state is primarily helping by providing assistance and counseling to American citizens who are returning from Haiti through Florida airports and hospitals.

“Repatriation is the primary objective through all of this, and obviously their health care,” said state Emergency Operations Manager David Halstead.

After the presser was over, another reporter asked about reports of “relocation camps” in Florida from Haitian migrants.

No chance, said Halstead.

He said the Coast Guard — through its Vigilant Sentry plan — will interdict any Haitian migrants at sea, take them to Guantanamo Bay and then back to Haiti.

On relocation camps, “that’s been kind of thrown around and it’s absolutely not happening,” he said. “We talked to Sec. Napalitano and she assured us, no no no. All we’re doing is dusting off Operation Vigilance, which means Coast Guard, watch for people coming of the shore. With aerial photography, they can watch in Haiti, watch them build boasts on the beaches, and there’s no one building any boats.”

More than 4,500 U.S. citizens have gone through repatriation at Florida airports, Gov. Charlie Crist said. The Department of Children and Families have two shifts in Sanford and Homestead to help those citizens returning from Haiti.

Using state funds, DCF provides them food and water, cell phones to contact family members, airfare for flights back home and even teddy bears for children.

“That may sound like a small thing, but it’s amazing how important that is for the emotional needs of that young child,” said DCF Secretary George Sheldon.

“These folks are coming in the country tremendously traumatized,” Sheldon said, recounting the story of a 28 year old carrying his two-month-old child, who had lost his wife and three other children. “I think it is important to put a human face on this.”

EOC chief Halstead with the Coast Guard closely watching the shores, any influx of illegal immigrants or migrants from Haiti is highly unlikely.

He said among 45,000 American citizens in Haiti, not all were affected by the earthquake. Among those who were, “many of those don’t live in Florida – they live around the United States,” Halstead said. “They’re coming here and we’re helping them get to their final destination.”

“Right now, with everyone watching Haiti, the coastline, for any boat or ship to be able to get here illegally would be a miracle upon itself,”
Halstead said, adding that the state is focusing on sending aid to Haiti and repatriating citizens returning to the U.S.

Halstead said doesn’t expect Haitians in South Florida to swell as a result of the earthquake. Most of the people returning to the U.S. from Haiti were mission workers or citizens visiting family members, and the like, not Haitian citizens trying to migrate to the U.S.

Crist said he supports airlifting orphans into Florida.

“You always have to look out for children,” Crist said. “Generally speaking, our duty here is to help our neighbors. This is one of the most devastating circumstances you could imagine, and to have this level of sorrow, of difficulty — our greatest task is to come together as a people, do everything we can to be helpful.”

The state also sent two teams of about 80 search-and-rescue workers, who performed about 20 rescue operations in Haiti.

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Haitian refugees: Should we loosen immigration laws?

• January 20, 2010 1:17 PM | Comments4Recommend2
• By POV

A Montreal woman who found her mother alive in the rubble of Haiti can't bring her to Canada right away.

Nicole Antoine is afraid her mother, Rose, will die before she can fill out the necessary paperwork. Her mother is not a Canadian citizen.

Antoine said officials at the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince told her she will have to return to Canada alone and then complete the paperwork before her mother can enter the country.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has announced that Ottawa will fast-track certain immigration applications. But members of Montreal's large Haitian community say Canada is not doing enough to help Haitians leave their earthquake-ravaged homeland.

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US Expects 200,000 TPS Applicants


US immigration officials say they expect up to 200,000 undocumented Haitians to apply for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. The program would grant eighteen-month work permits to Haitians who were in the US when the earthquake struck. Haitian refugees arriving after the earthquake date will continue to face deportation.

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Haiti: TPS and the Coming Negativity

My friends and I worried about the negativity that would emerge when the Department of Homeland Security granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian nationals, allowing them to remain in the U.S for 18 months while conditions at home improve. Rush Limbaugh's hostile comments regarding aid for Haiti, "Besides, we've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax," I fear are only the tip of the iceberg.

Already, ABC News is reporting that William Gheen, president of the conservative Americans for Legal Immigration PAC has said,

Apparently, there's nothing temporary about a temporary protected status order, and we do not want to see millions of Haitian refugees permanently transplanted to the United States in the middle of the economic nightmare we're in the middle of.

Last September, I discussed with notable Haitian author Edwidge Danticat the different narratives that existed about Haitians: boat people, AIDS carriers, and a permanent state of political unrest. These were the politics of identification that made and continue to make it difficult for some to understand Haiti and Haitians.

The stigma of being labeled "AIDS carriers," following the recommendation, made by the Food and Drug Administration, that local blood banks exclude groups of Haitians from donation led to feelings of "shame" and "inadequacy" among member of my generation. I do not want the young Haitian-Americans growing up in Diaspora today to experience those feelings.

The late 80s and early 90s were a time when many first-generationers choose to not divulge their roots, the negativity encountered encouraged a distancing from their ancestral identity. In college, the exploration began providing a place of positive reinforcement. No longer did many depend on solely on parents or neighbors to explain to them what it meant to be Haitian or provide feelings of validation.

I do not want the younger generation to allow current attitudes or those yet to be revealed to serve as a measure of their worth. The earthquake is allowing us to build a new map, with a new geography.

One where the words boat people, AIDS carriers, and politically unstable need not apply for residence upon its topography.

I encourage Haitians to claim their identity as the posterity of the first black republic, not as descendants of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It is not political strength, hurricanes, or earthquakes that define us. We are a people whose culture radiates the essence of Africa, illuminating the beauty of a nation that may be physically destroyed.

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Doors in Lansing not open to victims, but 'there's always the possibility'

Local group gets call inquiring about placement


Needing relief: People try to stay in line Wednesday to get disaster relief supplies at U.S. 82nd Airborne Division's forward operating base in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The massive international aid flowing into Haiti after last week's earthquake has been struggling with logistical problems, and many people still are desperate for food and water. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press)

Despite its longstanding role as a host city for political refugees, Lansing isn't opening its doors to Haitian earthquake victims - at least not yet.

"There's always the possibility," said Julie Reynolds Picot, spokeswoman for St. Vincent Catholic Charities in Lansing, which works with the federal government to resettle political refugees.Lutheran Social Services of Michigan's Lansing office got a call to find out how many beds were open if Haitian children need to be placed, said spokeswoman Barbara Lewis.

"We are not doing anything yet, but we might be," she said.

The group has been active in bringing unaccompanied minors who left Myanmar, f ormerly known as Burma, as refugees to the Lansing area.
The U.S. loosened restrictions Tuesday on illegal Haitian immigrants and on visas for Haitian orphans. Haitians who already are in the country illegally can begin applying as early as today for temporary protected status that will let them stay for now instead of being deported to the quake zone.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. immigration officials loosened restrictions on bringing Haitian orphans to the U.S. A planeload of 54 Haitian orphans already has arrived in Pennsylvania.

Officials in the quake zone have estimated that tens of thousands of children could be orphaned by the quake.

Picot said there are differences in the way the U.S. government handles political refugees - people who cannot stay in their home countries because of political, religious or ethnic persecution - and evacuees, whose homes have been destroyed by natural disasters.

"We did resettle Haitian refugees in the 1990s after a military coup that happened there and there were 3,000 to 5,000 Haitians killed," she said.

In part because of that resettlement, Lansing has a well-established Haitian community, Picot said.

When refugees are assigned to Lansing, St. Vincent's Refugee Services gets a few days to two weeks notice. The federal government provides about $300 a month in support for a single person and about $600 for a family.

Refugee Services works with local landlords to provide housing and with volunteers to provide clothing and household goods. Within six months, new refugees are expected to find work and make progress toward English proficiency.

Even in Michigan's tough economy, most refugees find work, Picot said.

That's because they're often willing to take minimum-wage jobs others may not even apply for. Long-term studies show that within five years, refugees have paid enough taxes to recoup the cost of their resettlement - and often much more.

"It actually is an economic stimulant to bring refugees in and, more importantly, it's the right thing to do," Picot said.

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200,000 Haitian migrants could file for Temporary Protected Status

BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@ElNuevoHerald.com
The Obama administration is preparing to handle applications from as many as 200,000 undocumented Haitian immigrants who want to live and work legally in the United States under a new immigration program unveiled last week in the aftermath of Haiti's destructive earthquake. The federal government will begin accepting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applications on Thursday, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency will process the paperwork.
Mayorkas was in Miami Wednesday to meet with local immigrant aid groups to South Florida to talk about the daunting task of handling the likely blizzard of applications from Haitians seeking the opportunity to remain in the United States.
Administration officials approved TPS for Haitians last week as part of an effort to help Haiti recover from the earthquake that left an estimated 200,000 people dead and about 1.5 million homeless.
The TPS designation is reserved for selected undocumented migrants from countries disrupted by natural disasters, armed conflicts or other emergencies.
Those Haitians approved will be allowed to stay in the United States for 18 months and be issued work permits to find jobs.
To be approved, Haitian immigrants must submit proof of Haitian citizenship and must show they were in the United States before Jan. 12 -- the day the devastating earthquake struck Haiti.
Local immigrant advocacy groups say that between 34,000 and 68,000 potential TPS applicants may be in South Florida and almost 100,000 statewide. They had earlier pegged the number of Haitians eligible for TPS at 30,000 nationwide.
USCIS officials said they are increasing staffs at various offices and service centers where applications are processed to expedite decisions.
The goal is to fast-track work permits for applicants, delivering them within 90 days or sooner, said USCIS' Mayorkas. TPS applicants typically wait six months.
``All applications will be treated as urgent,'' he said.
Authorization to work is a key priority for the majority of undocumented Haitians, particularly now that they are desperate to send money to relatives affected by last week's earthquake.
USCIS will try to waive the hefty application fees -- almost $500 -- to as many applicants as possible, said Mayorkas. But he would not commit to waiving fees for all applicants.
``We are aware that some people are financially vulnerable and we will be reviewing the applications with a generosity of spirit,'' Mayorkas told reporters.
Some aid group members pressed Mayorkas to also waive the requirement for government-issued identification for applicants.
USCIS officials at the meeting said they will consider accepting Haitian IDs after a Miami Haitian consulate official -- commercial attaché Karlo Pelissier -- said at the meeting that his office can issue ID papers for the applicants.
The consulate generally charges $30 for an ID, but Pelissier said he will check with his government on whether the fee can be waived.
By obtaining work permits with the possibility of getting a job, tens of thousands of undocumented Haitian immigrants in the United States are likely to send tens of millions of dollars to homeland relatives.
The latest estimate shows that Haitian immigrants in the United States send more than $1 billion in remittances to Haiti, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, which closely tracks remittances to the region.
The money sent from Haitians living in the United States and other foreign countries represents more than one-third of Haiti's gross national product.

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Obama admin. to allow thousands of Haitians into U.S. without visas

President Obama attends a news conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Aug. 9, 2013. (Associated Press) ** FILE ** more >

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Friday, October 17, 2014
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee took the Obama administration to task Friday for its “irresponsible” plan to allow as many as 100,000 Haitians to immigrate to the U.S. without a visa.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said the administration’s Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program — which will allow thousands of Haitians awaiting a U.S. visa to enter the country and legally apply for work permits — is “an irresponsible overreach of the executive branch’s authority.”

“Which countries are next on President Obama’s list?” Mr. Grassley said. “Will there by medical screenings before entry? Will work permits be granted automatically? How will this affect American workers?”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the branch of the Department of Homeland Security that handles immigration benefits cases, announced Friday the program to unite Haitians already living in the U.S. with family members abroad will ramp up in 2015.

At that time the State Department’s National Visa Center will begin notifying families who may be eligible to take part in the program. Those immigrants will allowed to apply for work permits while waiting for issuance of their permanent visas.

The agency said the program will expedite “safe, legal and orderly migration.”

“The rebuilding and development of a safe and economically strong Haiti is a priority for the United States. The Haitian Family Reunification Parole program promotes a fundamental underlying goal of our immigration system — family reunification,” said Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. “It also supports broader U.S. goals for Haiti’s reconstruction and development by providing the opportunity for certain eligible Haitians to safely and legally immigrate sooner to the United States.”

Roughly 100,000 Haitians already approved to come to the U.S. are currently awaiting visas, The Associated Press reported.

Mr. Grassley, whose Senate committee has jurisdiction over immigration policy, predicted the number of Haitians who would come to the U.S. under the program would likely exceed that estimate, calling it “likely just the beginning of the president’s unilateral and executive actions on immigration.”

“Parole is meant for humanitarian assistance on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “The president’s continued push to circumvent Congressional authority and ignore the rule of law sets a bad precedent for the future.”

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Cuz, you know, blacks in Haiti are SOOOOOO well educated and take SUCH good care of their country. Right?