Wednesday, following the recommendation of James McCamen, Acting Director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians by January https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20727-haiti-flash-us-immigration-service-recommends-the-end-of-tps.html US Senator Bob Mendenez, in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security John Kelly, signed by 15 of his Democratic colleagues, urges the Trump administration to extend the TPS program, which expires next July 22 for nearly 60,000 Haitians living in the United States.

In this letter, senators say that Haiti has not recovered from the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew last year. "More than seven years after the devastating earthquake and resulting humanitarian crisis, Haiti has yet to recover," wrote the senators recalling that this TPS program was created for foreigners "[...] when extraordinary conditions in their home country pose a serious threat to personal safety [...] Given Haiti's many challenges, the United States' focus should be to prioritize disaster assistance and recovery, not to return Haitian nationals to a country lacking the capacity to support them," highlighting the remaining difficulties in Haiti.

Let's recall that the US Government has granted temporary protection to nationals of 13 countries tested by major natural disasters, famine or war...

Note that John Kelly, has not yet made a decision on the fate of Haitians living under this status in the United States, according to Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan.

SL/ HaitiLibre