Sixteen senators urged the Trump administration Wednesday to continue immigration protections for 50,000 Haitians living in the U.S. because of severe hardships back home.
The senators, all Democrats, sent a letter responding to a recommendation by the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to end “temporary protected status” for Haitians by January.
The U.S. government has granted such protections to foreigners from 13 countries hammered by natural disasters, famine or war.
In the letter written by Senator Bob Mendenez, to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, the senators said Haiti still hasn’t recovered from the devastating 2010 earthquake and last year’s Hurricane Matthew.
The temporary protection program was created for foreigners “when extraordinary conditions in their home country pose a serious threat to personal safety,” wrote the senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Given Haiti’s many challenges, the United States’ focus should be to prioritize disaster assistance and recovery, not to return Haitian nationals to a country lacking the capacity to support them.”
“More than seven years after the devastating earthquake and resulting humanitarian crisis, Haiti has yet to recover,” the senators wrote.
Kelly, who has the final say, has not decided on the Haitians’ fate yet, Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan said.
