Immediately after the earthquake the White House granted eligible Haitians already living in the United States the chance to remain and work here legally for 18 months through Temporary Protected Status (TPS). On May 17, 2011, more than 16 months after the first designation, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the extension of TPS for roughly 48,000 Haitian nationals who currently had the designation. The extension was made effective July 23, and allowed Haitian beneficiaries to remain in the United States an additional 18 months—through January 22, 2013.

On September 22, Governor Deval Patrick submitted a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, urging DHS to promptly parole Haitian beneficiaries of approved family-based visa petitions into the United States. He joins a chorus of political leaders across the nation in this call to create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (HFRPP) – which would finally give Haitians the same con­sid­er­a­tion as Cubans, who were granted a similar parole program under former President George W. Bush in 2007.

“An exercise of parole authority would allow Haitians with an already approved, legal method of entering the United States to be reunited with close family members in the United States while awaiting visa availability,” Gov. Patrick wrote. “Expediting family reunification through safe and orderly channels would bring families together safely without the risk of a dangerous maritime migration, and would allow for greater remittances to be sent to aid Haiti’s recovery.”

There are 105,000 Haitian beneficiaries – of which 16,000 are children and spouses – who are ready to come to the United States. Chil­dren and spouses of legal res­i­dents have to wait up to four years, while sib­lings of US cit­i­zens may wait up to 11 years. Given the dire circumstances in Haiti after the earthquake, asking these families to wait that long is wrong. What Gov. Patrick, along with scores of leaders and advocates, are asking for is simple: let these earthquake survivors in the United States now, so they can be with their families and work to support others back home.

This argument was recently bolstered by the Center for Global Development, which published a working paper in June “Migration as a Tool for Disaster Recovery: A Case Study on U.S. Policy Options for Post-Earthquake Haiti.” It strongly recommends paroling approved Haitian beneficiaries as a low-cost way to help Haiti recover.

It’s important to note that no con­gres­sional act is needed for the administration to expe­dite the han­dling of these immi­gra­tion cases, though con­gres­sional quo­tas cre­ated the cur­rent back­log of approved visa recip­i­ents.

The US has taken a leadership role to aid Haiti’s recovery and promised to do all it could to help. The time has come for the Obama administration to stand firm behind that promise and finally end the double standard against Haitians.

See Original Post: http://bostonhaitian.com/node/613

South Florida’s congressional delegation can play a key role in helping hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Haitian-Americans in Haiti and the United States by strongly urging Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Obama to end a glaring double standard.

Before last January’s quake, DHS had approved immigrant visa petitions for about 55,000 Haitians who nevertheless remain in Haiti today, and in danger from cholera, tent city conditions, and environmental and political turmoil. Unbelievably, they’re slated to stay on a wait list there up to 11 more years — inevitably, some won’t survive — before joining their families here, even though DHS approved them over a year ago.

On Jan. 11, Florida U. S. Sen. Bill Nelson joined Sens. Kisten Gillibrand, Patrick Leahy, John Kerry, Bob Menendez, and Frank Lautenberg in a letter to President Obama urging his prompt parole of these DHS-approved beneficiaries. House Foreign Affairs Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, both from South Florida, with six other U.S. House members, did so last year in a March 8 letter to Secretary Napolitano. The letter cites the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program. Created by DHS in 2007 and renewed last month, it lets DHS-approved Cubans wait in the United States for their visa priority dates to become current. Ten editorial boards and the U.S. Conference of Mayors also say Haitians deserve no less.

The approved Haitians include the adult children and siblings of U.S. citizens and even the spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents who hold green cards. As the U.S. senators note, “They would be allowed to work in the United States while awaiting their turn in line, but receive no federal benefits, thereby not impacting the federal budget.” And thousands of worried-sick relatives would be thrilled if their loved ones, like Cubans, could wait here with them and not in their devastated homeland.

More importantly, the money these legal immigrants would start sending home would benefit Haiti and our national security. Remittances from Haitian Americans are crucial, as the World Bank and others note, leading the Boston Globe Editorial Board to call this the “most effective way” to show U.S. leadership to help Haiti recover. Which is what President Obama promised on Jan. 14, two days after the earthquake.

Doing this requires no congressional action, only a White House instruction to Secretary Napolitano. It costs nothing and would give equal treatment, help Haiti recover, remove our community’s loved ones from harm’s way, free up desperately needed resources in Haiti and build new ones to help quake victims, making the approved beneficiaries part of Haiti’s solution, not part of the problem.

Please urge your congressional representatives’ active attention and support. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti with many supporters leads this effort, which we hope you will join.

Steven Forester coordinates immigration policy for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. He can be reached at steveforester@aol.com and 786–877-6999.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/fl-sfcol-haiti-visas-forester-20110117,0,1385601.story

Haitian Americans and their supporters can play a vital role in helping perhaps 600,000 Haitians and Haitian Americans in Haiti and the United States by urging Massachusetts’ U.S. Senators Brown and Kerry to get the White House to instruct Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano to end a glaring double standard which dishonors our community. Let us explain.

Before Haiti’s earthquake, DHS had approved the immigrant visa petitions of 55,000 Haitian beneficiaries who nevertheless today still languish in Haiti on a wait list, in danger from cholera, tent city conditions, hurricanes, and turmoil. They’re slated to stay there another four to eleven years, waiting for visa priority dates to become current, before eventually joining their families here – assuming that they survive the debilitating environment.

That is wrong, but there is something we can do about it. The age old Haitian motto tells us that “L’union fait la force,” which means that in our unity we can be extremly powerful. We can organize to urge our U.S. Senators to get the White House to bring them in (“parole” them) now.

Over the decades, the U.S. has paroled hundreds of thousands of Cuban, Indochinese, and Kosovar refugees. And just a few weeks ago, DHS renewed and extended a program it created in 2007 — the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program — which lets approved Cubans wait here rather than in Cuba!

The White House knows it makes sense to similarly parole the approved Haitians. If only half of them got jobs here, their remittances would support 300,000 quake victims back in Haiti, at no cost to the United States. This would be like a blood transfusion for Haiti.

According to a recent Boston Globe editorial, this would be “the most effective way” for the United States to show leadership in helping Haiti recover. And that’s what President Obama promised nearly a year ago, on January 14, just two days after the quake. Support to promptly bring in the approved Haitians includes the editorial boards of the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer,Los Angeles Times, San Antonio Express News, Star-Ledger, Newsday, Boston Globe, and Miami Herald, which said on March 22, “There is no valid argument for failing to move quickly on this front.” That was over nine months ago!

Support includes a unanimous U.S. Conference of Mayors resolution, a March 12 letter to Secretary Napolitano from 75 organizations, a March 8 letter to her from four Republicans and four Democrats including incoming House Foreign Affairs Chairperson Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and chairpersons Howard Berman, John Conyers, and Zoe Lofgren.

Doing this requires no congressional action, only a White House instruction to Secretary Napolitano. It costs nothing. It would give equal treatment. It would help Haiti recover. It would remove them from harm’s way. It would free up resources and create new ones. It would make the 55,000 part of the solution, not part of the problem.

As the World Bank reported on May 17, 2010 “Haiti Remittances Are Key to Earthquake Recovery.” Ten days after the quake, Republican Elliot Abrams urged increasing legal immigration to help Haiti recover in his Washington Post opinion piece. So there’s broad support.

Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown should strongly and forcefully urge President Obama to instruct Secretary Napolitano to promptly parole the approved Haitians. They should do so privately or publicly, but vociferously and urgently. A letter or expressions of sympathy won’t be enough.

But they won’t act unless you — their constitutents, including nearly 100,000 Haitians – strongly urge them to do so.

Let’s organize to achieve this goal, which will help Haiti, the 55,000 Haitians, hundreds of thousands of worried-sick relatives here, and hundreds of thousands of loved ones in Haiti who would regularly get their life-saving remittances, if they were simply accorded the same treatment which DHS a few weeks ago renewed for the Cubans!

As Los Angeles Times editors said in July, citing the ongoing Cuban program,“Why the disparate treatment?”

Help get “Simple Equal Treatment for Haitians” – SETH! If you are interested in joining this effort, we’ll urge you to write e-mails, make phone calls, sign petitions, and attend meetings at the offices of Senators Kerry and Brown. And possibly demonstrations.

But let’s get this done! We hope you will contact us to finally bring in the 55,000 approved Haitian beneficiaries! Thank you.

Steven Forester coordinates immigration policy at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti [IJDH] and can be reached at steveforester@aol.com and 786 877 6999). James Dessin is a student at Harvard and an immigration policy intern at IJDH and can be reached at justimmigration@ijdh.organd 617 682‑0192.

The administration should make good on its promise to expedite the immigration to the U.S. of about 55,000 Haitians who have been approved for visas.

In January, President Obama pledged not to forsake or forget Haiti during what promised to be a long and painful recovery from the worst earthquake to hit the island nation in 200 years. To that end, the administration immediately sent military assistance and millions of dollars in emergency aid. But it has yet to take another crucial step: expediting the immigration to the United States of the 55,000 Haitians who already have been approved for visas by the Department of Homeland Security.

These Haitians, sponsored by relatives who are either legal residents or citizens, have met all requirements; among other things, they have provided the government with legally binding affidavits from family members guaranteeing financial support so that they do not become a public burden. Due to a monumental backlog of visas available for Haitians, however, officials say the process takes from four to 11 years. Given the dire circumstances in Haiti and the administration’s promise of staunch support, it is both logical and humane to speed this process on their behalf. And there is precedent for doing so. In 2007, President George W. Bush allowed Cubans whose family petitions had been approved to enter the country ahead of schedule, and he did the same for refugees from Indochina and Kosovo. Haitians certainly need visas just as badly, so why the disparate treatment?

Removing tens of thousands of people from Haiti’s ruins and allowing them to live and work in the United States would automatically turn them into providers and benefactors, speeding the island nation’s recovery. Even before the 7.0 earthquake, remittances were crucial to its survival, but now they are indispensable. Millions of Haitians living abroad, including about 800,000 in the U.S., sent home nearly $2 billion last year, and World Bank economists expect to see a 20% surge this year. And the bang for the buck is significant, with up to 10 people benefiting from the funds sent home by each emigrant.

Legislation to create a family reunification program for Haitians, modeled on the Cuban program, is pending in Congress. But it is unnecessary. Obama only has to give the order and the Department of Homeland Security will move Haitians to the front of the line. Time is of the essence; 1 million people remain displaced, and hurricane season has begun.

The Obama administration has kept its word about sending money to Haiti, but the country’s recovery cannot progress without the assistance of its diaspora. Obama should help Haitians to help themselves.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-haitians-20100721,0,3618364.story

Two days after a calamitous earthquake erupted in Haiti in January, President Obama rightly called it “one of those moments that call out for America’s leadership.’’ Since then the United States has done many things to help Haitians, delivering food, medical assistance, and temporary shelter to the island. Sad to say, however, the administration has yet to do one thing that could help significantly: allow the 55,000 Haitians who have already been approved for immigrant visas to join family members here in the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is empowered to grant this relief simply by ordering it, with no act of Congress needed. Congressional quotas created the current backlog of approved visa recipients; children and spouses of legal residents have to wait four years, while siblings of US citizens must wait 11 years. These Haitians approved for entry to the US will come here eventually. If they are enabled to come now, and if they are permitted to work here legally, the money they remit to Haiti will serve as an efficient form of foreign aid, greatly accelerating the island’s economic recovery.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/07/17/haiti_expedite_visas_for_family_members/