Department of Homeland Security John Kelly announced a six-month extension of temporary protected status for over 50,000 Haitian refugees who are living in the U.S. and were facing possible deportation once their status ended at the end of July. ”If confirmed, six months with promise to review better than hard stop,” tweeted immigrant rights leader Frank Sharry about the news. But as he and others have noted during the past few weeks, Haiti has yet to recover from devastating natural disasters and a cholera outbreak that has killed thousands, and uprooting tens of thousands of people who have U.S. citizen kids, work and pay taxes, and have built their lives here since the 2010 Haiti earthquake could mean not only misery for them, but have vast reverberations. Mother Jones:
Losing TPS could have ripple effects beyond the Haitians currently in the program. According to a recent report from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, if Honduras, El Salvador, and Haiti—the three countries with the largest number of TPS recipients—are all removed from the program, the US economy would lose $45.2 billion over the next decade. And it could cost some $3.1 billion to deport all TPS holders from those three countries, according to the report.
"The Haitian program is so important," says Stephen Legomsky, a USCIS chief counsel during the Obama administration. He points to the money TPS holders regularly send back to family members in Haiti, an economic boost that would be difficult to replace if the program ended. Given current conditions in Haiti, "there would be tremendous human hardship on a huge scale" if thousands of people were to return to the country at once, he says.
It doesn't seem likely that the Trump administration is considering Haitian contributions to the economy in making its decision.
“Clinton was responsible for doing things a lot of the Haitian people are not happy with,” Trump said from prepared remarks, referring to the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. “Taxpayer dollars intended for Haiti and the earthquake victims went to a lot of the Clinton cronies.”
Later, Trump told the crowd that he had come to “listen and learn” and to build a new relationship with the community.
“Whether you vote for me or not I really want to be your biggest champion,” he said.
To Trump, being someone’s “biggest champion” apparently means having his DHS dig around for crimes committed by Haitian refugees in order to justify deporting them, even though the previous administration extended their protective status, consisting of 18 month increments, three times. “Champion,” indeed. As Mother Jones notes, “many Haitians will simply not return to Haiti if their TPS designation expires,” essentially driving folks underground and off the books “during a time of heightened fear among undocumented immigrants.” And as Miami Congresswoman Frederica Wilson said, “the reality is that in six months Haiti will still be in no position to absorb and aid 58,000 unemployed people”:
Reno Simeon, a Haitian man living in the Miami area, works two jobs as a utilities worker and a cook. Simeon came to the United States in 1999 and met and married his wife, who is a green card holder. He would be forced to leave if Haiti's designation ends, but his wife's immigration status would protect her. If his status is revoked, he doesn't have a set plan. "I wanted to go to Canada," he says, "but my wife says no." There is a large Haitian population concentrated in Montreal.
"I would love for the politicians to know that TPS is the most important for the Haitian people," says Simeon. "We work really hard, we pay taxes, we contribute to the economy, and to the country."
"Every day we see people come here to our center at a loss," said one Haitian activist. "This is not a decision you can really counsel people on. What do you do? Do you put your house for sale? Do you close your business?" According to the DHS statement, “prior to the expiration of this limited six-month period, Secretary Kelly will re-evaluate the designation for Haiti and decide anew whether extension, re-designation, or termination is warranted.” Six months of uncertainty is no way to live, and as Congresswoman Wilson noted, Haiti will not be prepared for such a large influx in six months. Kelly should do the right thing and extend it to an 18 month period sooner rather than later.