Campaign Action
At least 1,000 Liberian immigrants face a life-changing deadline in just over a month. Last year, the Trump administration announced that protections allowing them to live and work here following a devastating civil war in Liberia would end on March 31. Unless Congress acts or the administration reconsiders the termination of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), these families face an unknown future.
Magdalene Menyongar is one of those facing an uncertain future. She’s had permission to live here for years now, but without relief or permanent protections, she worries about what it means for her teen daughter, a U.S. citizen. Does she leave her daughter behind? Or does she stay, become undocumented, and now have to live her life watching her back?
It’s a decision no parent should have to make. She joined at least 100 others in a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol last Friday, where families and supporters called for relief. “You cannot live in a place for 20 years and not consider that place as your home,” she said. “This is my home now. I don’t have any other home. My daughter was born here.”
Menyongar’s uncertainty is the result of Stephen Miller-penned policies targeting black immigrants. Along with DED, the Trump administration has also targeted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which has similarly allowed tens of thousands of Haitian and Sudanese immigrants to build their lives here following dangerous conditions in their home countries.
But while a judge has blocked the administration from ending TPS for both of these nations, Liberian immigrants were not a part of this action, and remain in limbo. At least three congressional Democrats are now making a push for protections for DED families, including U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, “who reintroduced a narrow bill he has pushed in every session of Congress since 1999 to offer Liberians with DED a chance to apply for permanent residency.”
The clock is ticking and the urgency is greater than ever. “Now that we have built our homes, built our lives after so many years,” said another Liberian immigrant at last week’s rally, “we are told that we should go back to the same situation that has not improved.” One young girl pleaded to the country: “Please let my mom and dad stay with me in the United States.” Make a call for her today at (202) 224-3121.