23 November 17
FOCUS: Charles Pierce | Here's What Your President Is Doing Right Before Thanksgiving
Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "Temporary Protected Status is one of those programs that, by and large, takes the Statue of Liberty seriously. Undocumented people who come here fleeing either natural disasters - as was the case with the 60,000 Haitians who came here in the wake of a massive earthquake in 2010, whom the administration* now plans to send home - or internal bloodshed."
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Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "Temporary Protected Status is one of those programs that, by and large, takes the Statue of Liberty seriously. Undocumented people who come here fleeing either natural disasters - as was the case with the 60,000 Haitians who came here in the wake of a massive earthquake in 2010, whom the administration* now plans to send home - or internal bloodshed."
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Trump plans to throw 60,000 Haitians out of the country.
n the daily wrestling match within this administration* between staggering incompetence and unreasoning cruelty, the sides are generally pretty even. However, Tuesday was one of those days where the latter really came to play. From the L.A. Times:The so-called temporary protected status for Haitians will expire in 18 months, in July 2019, officials with the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday night. The unusually long lead time will give Haitians currently under protection an opportunity to seek some other kind of legal status if they qualify — or to make arrangements to leave. By far the largest group of Haitians covered by the order live in Florida, with another large community in New York. For months, administration officials have signaled their intention to end special designations that have allowed immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally from Haiti and other troubled nations to stay on and work in the U.S. The existing protections were intended to provide temporary respites for citizens of hard-hit countries, not permanent legal status in the U.S., officials note.
Temporary Protected Status is one of those programs that, by and large, takes the Statue of Liberty seriously. Undocumented people who come here fleeing either natural disasters—as was the case with the 60,000 Haitians who came here in the wake of a massive earthquake in 2010, whom the administration* now plans to send home—or internal bloodshed. There are 200,000 Salvadorans here who came after an earthquake struck that country 16 years ago. Sending them back, which this administration* will get around to doing, is sending them back to internal bloodshed and civil strife.
The Haitians—as Marco Rubio explained in a pointed op-ed in The Miami Herald—are being sent back to a devastated country that is in no way prepared to take them in.
Haitians who have been in the United States under TPS have played a significant role in rebuilding their country. Personal contributions from the Haitian community in the U.S. make up nearly 25 percent of Haiti’s gross domestic product. Many Haitians depend on the financial support from family members abroad, which amounted to $2.4 billion in 2016 and has grown steadily every year since 1998. That said, ongoing natural disasters and global health challenges like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and unchecked cholera, have undermined Haiti’s ability to meet its full potential. Haitians were first struck by a cholera outbreak after United Nations (UN) peacekeepers transmitted the disease during the 2010 earthquake recovery efforts. Since then, nearly 800,000 Haitians have contracted cholera, resulting in 10,000 deaths from the disease alone.
There is no good reason to send these people back. They work. They pay every tax except the federal income tax. They contribute to their communities. But they are people of color, and the notion he'd ship as many of them out of the country as possible is what got this president* elected.
“Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of displaced people in Haiti has decreased by 97 percent,” said Duke. “Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens.”
And once they’re gone, they’re Haiti’s problem again. Out of sight, and the administration*’s out of its mind.
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