Campaign Action
Thousands of Liberian immigrants have less than a week left before the program that has allowed them to work and protected them from deportation expires. “My community is in panic mode as we speak,” Alfreda Daniels of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation said about the end of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) on March 31. “It’s not fair for anyone to live this way.”
The Trump administration announced last year that DED would be ending in 2019, as part of its racist agenda targeting immigrants of color. As Daily Kos Liberation League writes, “Liberia’s government still does not have the capacity to accept a sudden influx of deportees,” meaning immigrants like Yatta Kiazolu could be deported back to instability. The 28-year-old has lived here since she was just six and is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“This last year has been very anxiety ridden,” she said. “It’s been hard to make long-term plans because this impacts every single part of your life. I’ve had to pass up job opportunities.” Come next week, Liberians in the work force will lose their ability to work legally, including 177 nurses in one area of Minnesota alone. This is a crisis.
Hoping for legal action similar to that which has halted the termination of protections for some Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status recipients, DED recipients have also sued the Trump administration, alleging the decision to end DED was “the direct result of intentional discrimination directed at the Liberian community.” In one infamous racist rant last year, Trump insulted countries affected by his anti-immigrant actions as “shithole countries.”
A halt to the administration’s action would be a moment to breathe, but it would also be just that: a moment. DED families need permanent protections. “This is not the first time this panic has taken over my community,” Daniels said. “DED is usually renewed every 18 months. By the end of that 18 months, everyone is scared and worried if that is going to be renewed. People’s families are going to be ripped apart if nothing is done. People deserve to live here, Liberia is no longer their home.” Make a call today to protect these families.