America's Voice Blog

Posted 04/05/10 at 09:31am By Marjorie Valbrun

A Helping Hand, Then a Slap in the Face: U.S. Immigration Enforcement Policies Cause More Suffering

Cross-Posted at Huffington Post:

Haitian-Americans, myself included, have been especially proud that our adoptive homeland not only took the lead in recovery and relief efforts in Haiti after the massive January earthquake, but also temporarily suspended deportations of undocumented Haitian immigrants and granted them work permits so that they could earn income and help affected relatives in Haiti.

Obama took these steps in short order while consistently voicing support and sympathy for the Haitian people, not to mention providing $930 million in aid to Haiti after the earthquake. Just last week the U.S. pledged $1.15 billion more in rebuilding aid at the International Donors Conference for Haiti. These moves only intensified the immense goodwill Haitians here and in Haiti have for Americans in general and for Pres. Obama in particular. 

So it was with deep disappointment, and distress, that we learned from the New York Times last week that some of the people who were evacuated from Haiti by U.S. Marines in the chaotic days after the earthquake had been jailed in immigration detention centers from the first day they arrived here. Some of them were even kept in shackles. None had been deemed criminals or a security threats; they simply had no papers proving they were legal immigrants.

That many of the evacuees lost everything in the disaster and arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs was apparently beside the point to U.S immigration authorities. But for Haitian-Americans and non-hyphenated Americans too, this was the point – and an outrageous one at that. How can the very administration that urged Americans to show compassion and charity towards Haiti and its traumatized people turn around and jail some of those very same people?  It was more than a cruel slap in the face; it was bureaucratic kick in the gut.

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Posted 01/27/10 at 09:16am By Mahwish Khan

After TPS Granted for Haitian Immigrants, Groups Rush to Demonize, Demagogue

Earlier this month, President Obama and a bipartisan group of members of Congress did the right thing by granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian immigrants already in the United States. Granting TPS was a welcome and timely move that reinforced American values at a time of great international turmoil.

It was a move that we, and many other organizations, applauded with the advertisement to the right, which appeared in Roll Call last Thursday, January 21st.   

Since then, as Andrea Nill at the Wonk Room points out, anti-immigration policy organizations and anti-immigration legislators began spouting nonsense like, "Haiti’s So Screwed Up Because It Wasn’t Colonized Long Enough" and "Undocumented Haitians Should Be Deported, Haiti In ‘Great Need Of Relief Workers" immediately following the tragedy. Blogger Duke at The Sanctuary quotes the anti-immigration "think tank" director, Mark Krikorian, in "Krikorian: Problem with Haiti- slavery ended too soon."

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Posted 01/15/10 at 06:42pm By Jackie Mahendra

Victory: Obama Administration Grants Crucial Immigration Protection, TPS, to Haitians in U.S.

HaitiEarlier today we urged you to Stand with Haiti by donating to the post-earthquake relief effort and calling for a crucial protection, called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), for Haitian men and women living in the U.S.

Well, here's to a long-overdue victory!

President Obama deserves praise for granting TPS, as do the bipartisan group of members of Congress and many, diverse advocacy organizations and bloggers who publicly urged him to do so.

The Miami Herald reports, in "Obama administration grants TPS to Haitians:"

The Obama administration announced Friday that it would grant tens of thousands Haitian nationals Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, an immigration benefit sought for years by Haitian activists, immigrant advocates and South Florida lawmakers.

The move comes following intense pressure on the administration this week to approve Haiti for TPS in the aftermath of the country's devastating earthquake.

TPS is granted to selected immigrants who cannot safely return to their homelands because of natural disasters, armed conflicts or other emergencies. Those eligible are allowed to remain here, obtain work permits and temporary stays for specific periods -- a status often renewed indefinitely.

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Posted 01/15/10 at 08:29am By Jackie Mahendra

Stand with Haiti: 3 Actions to Take

Yesterday we blogged about the catastrophic devastation in Haiti as a result of this week's magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

Here are three ways to stand with Haiti right now:

1. Donate to the relief efforts. Give to organizations working in Haiti like Partners in Health. You can also contribute online to the Red Cross, or donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting "HAITI" to "90999."

2. Sign a petition by CREDO Mobile (a progressive mobile and online advocacy network) or Catholics United to President Obama. Both are also fighting for long-overdue Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants already living in the United States.

3. Blog about this and spread the word on twitter, facebook... you name it.

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Posted 01/15/10 at 01:54am By Web Team

Weekly Diaspora: Protecting Haitian Refugees Through Immigration Reform

This post is a weekly feature by Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger.

On Tuesday, the worst earthquake in 200 years struck just off the coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as The Nation reports. Bringing "catastrophic destruction" to the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, the disaster has spurred relief efforts worldwide. Crises like this are important reminders of how the treatment and protection of refugees must be a part of immigration reform.

Temporary protected status for Haitian refugees

In September of 2009—just one year after Haiti was decimated by four successive hurricanes and tropical storms that affected at least 3 million people—New America Media (NAM) made a prescient call to halt all deportation to Haiti, and grant Haitians temporary protected status (TPS) status in the U.S. "before more Haitians die or are impacted by natural disasters."

Andrea Nill, writing for NAM's EthnoBlog, reminds us it was only ten months ago, in March of 2009 that the Obama administration indicated it would "continue deporting undocumented Haitians," in spite of the critical situation on the ground. Yesterday, Nill argued that not granting Haitian refugees TPS at this point would be "inconsistent with the promises the Obama administration has already made to the people of Haiti." Later in the day, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano responded by stating deportations to Haiti would, indeed, be temporarily halted.

[ED. NOTE: Stay tuned for more coverage of Haiti and relief efforts. The Media Consortium will release a special report compiling our member's coverage of the crisis and ways to help later today.]

Legalize the undocumented; boost the economy

It's a fortunate confluence of circumstance, when doing the right thing could also help our faltering economy. Jorge Rivas of RaceWire highlights a new study on the beneficial economic effects of legalizing undocumented workers through comprehensive immigration reform. The study came about through a partnership between the Center for American Progress and Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The research suggests that legalization would yield $1.5 trillion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product over a 10-year period, generate billions of dollars in additional tax revenue, increase wages for all levels of workers in the U.S. (the "wage floor") and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

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Posted 01/14/10 at 10:02am By Adam Luna

As Haiti Disaster Unfolds, Growing Push For “TPS” Immigration Change

This week Haiti experienced an earthquake of catastrophic proportions, which has left hundreds of thousands of lives in peril. While we know that it was a magnitude 7.0 quake, we do not yet know the magnitude of lives lost or damage done.

Still, as we look for ways to provide assistance to survivors in Haiti, we must also figure out what to do about our immigration policy regarding Haitian immigrants here at home.

The debate has been raging for some time now about whether to extend "Temporary Protected Status," or TPS, to unauthorized Haitian immigrants facing severe circumstances back home (even before the latest natural disaster). Ginger Thompson, who has been covering the debate for the New York Times, wrote back in February:

After an estimated 1,000 people were killed in mudslides in Haiti last year, the government asked the United States to grant temporary protected status to Haitian immigrants — relief that was extended when Honduras and El Salvador were hit by similar disasters. The designation is intended for countries in such dire trouble that receiving deportees would undermine their stability.

Deportations of Haitians were temporarily suspended last September, while the Bush administration considered the request. In December, the request was denied and the deportations resumed.

Lawyers say hundreds of people were detained, pushing detention centers across Florida beyond capacity. Hundreds of other immigrants were forced to wear electronic monitoring devices.

Andrea Nill writes, at the Wonk Room:

Haitian immigrants in the U.S. probably should’ve been granted TPS long before yesterday’s earthquake. Yet now, as Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) points out, it would be “not only immoral, but irresponsible” not to.

Haiti’s recent woes come after enduring four consecutive tropical cyclones in 2008 that left 800 people dead and from which the country has yet to recover. The Miami Herald has reported that the Haitian city of Gonaives, is still “uninhabitable.” That same year, Port-Au-Prince was “shattered” as even 9,000 United Nation peacekeepers were unable to halt the looting and violence that ravaged Haiti’s capital. In March, USAID estimated that 2.3 million Haitians were facing “food insecurity” as a result of high food prices. Political instability continues to devastate the country.

Imagine2050.net hosts an "Open Letter to President Obama" on the issue, which concludes:

I urge you to revisit the requests for TPS for Haitians from:

Organizations such as the NAACP and US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Newspapers including The New York Times and the Washington Post
Your good friend Senator Ted Kennedy and others

a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti
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