US extends Temporary Protected Status for Haitians

WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States Department of Homeland Security has announced an extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for nationals from Haiti until October 4, 2021.

The department also extended TPS, until the same time, for beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

Through the notice in the federal register, the daily Journal of the United States Government, the department said it was taking actions “to ensure its continued compliance with the preliminary injunction orders” of a number of US district courts.

Several immigrant advocacy groups had filed lawsuits in district courts challenging the Trump administration’s decision to terminate TPS for nationals from Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

The cases were heard in US District Court for the Northern District of California which issued an order to stay proceedings for the termination of TPS.

The department noted that a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction in September this year.

However, because the appellate court has not issued its directive to the district court to make that ruling effective, the department said “the injunction remains in place at this time.”

It said beneficiaries under the TPS designation for Haiti will retain their TPS while either of the preliminary injunctions  remain in effect, “provided that an alien’s TPS is not withdrawn because of individual ineligibility.”

Last month, a Haitian refugee group in New York urged the incoming Joe Biden administration to rescind President Donald J. Trump’s “racist policies on immigration.”

The Brooklyn-based Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees’ Temporary Protected Status Committee told the Caribbean Media Corporation that it was collaborating with the Haitian National TPS Alliance in holding Biden to his promise of reversing Trump’s immigration policies.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned on a promise that, in the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration, they would reverse Trump’s discriminatory policies on immigration, including protecting TPS holders and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients, ending family separation and restoring asylum laws,” Ninaj Raoul, chair of the Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, told CMC.

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