Obama wants more Haitians in America

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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.”