Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was first designated for Haitians who were in the United States on or before the devastating earthquake of 2010. Now, after Hurricane Matthew has worsened Haiti’s already-poor infrastructure and cholera epidemic, TPS should be redesignated. Haiti cannot currently support people who were deported, and redesignation would also help much-needed remittances be sent back to help Haiti recover. In this article, IJDH’s Steven Forester and FANM’s Marleine Bastien explain the importance of TPS and urge president Obama to redesignate it while he still has the chance.

Part of the article is below. Click HERE for the full text.

Here’s why Obama should broaden TPS for Haitians

Marleine Bastien & Steven Forester, Miami Herald
December 25, 2016

Last week, Haitian Americans nationwide contacted the White House and their representatives in Congress urging President Obama to act on three goals within his control and moral purview.

When a natural catastrophe in a country makes it unsafe to deport nationals there, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can designate it for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Haiti was so designated after the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010. Nationals who had arrived in the U.S. on or before that date were protected from deportation and, for a significant fee, allowed to apply for a work permit.

TPS for Haiti needs to be updated – “redesignated.” In early October, Hurricane Matthew devastated Haiti’s southern peninsula. The Category 4 hurricane’s 230-mile-per-hour winds and over 10 inches of rain inundated vast areas, killing, injuring, rendering homeless and displacing hundreds of thousands. It left 1,250,000 Haitians, including 500,000 children, without safe water, and more than 800,000 Haitians living in extreme food insecurity because almost 100 percent crop destruction and half of the livestock destroyed. It caused cases of cholera, the water-borne disease introduced to Haiti by negligent United Nations practices.
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Click HERE for the full text.