Biden admin designates Ethiopia for TPS, shielding thousands from deportation and harm

Daily Kos Staff

Friday October 21, 2022 · 12:42 PM PDT

2022/10/21 · 12:42

US President Joe Biden speaks as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas listens while visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, DC on September 29, 2022. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP) (Photo by OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images) — President Joe Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

The Biden administration officially announced that the U.S. will for the first time designate Ethiopia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a long-awaited decision that stands to shield from deportation nearly 30,000 eligible Ethiopian immigrants currently here.

In a statement Friday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas cited ongoing armed conflict, human rights violations that include gender-based violence, and a humanitarian crisis involving severe food insecurity in designating Ethiopia for protected status. Eligible immigrants who have been in the U.S. since Oct. 20, 2022, may apply for 18 months of deportation relief and work eligibility.

The announcement is a victory in particular for advocates within the Ethiopian community, who have long been pushing for this lifesaving relief.

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“We welcome President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’s decision to grant Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia,” Dr. Tsehaye Teferra, President and CEO of the Ethiopian Community Development Council, said in a statement received by Daily Kos. Teferra said the decision “will offer relief to Ethiopians in the United States who faced possible return to a country experiencing one of the most devastating wars and humanitarian crises in the world today.”

“While these protections have been long needed, we are glad for this 18-month designation and urge the administration to ensure a swift implementation of these protections for Ethiopians in the United States,” said Lora Adams, Campaign Coordinator of the Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure Administrative Advocacy Coalition (TPS-DED AAC). “The work is not over, as thousands of TPS applicants from all designated countries continue to wait in an extensive backlog for their applications to be processed. We must ensure that once a country is designated for protection, its people in the United States actually receive that protection.”

In its statement, DHS said that Ethiopia’s designation will not go into effect until the publication of the Federal Register Notice, at which point the federal government will give application instructions.

”We urge the administration to follow this announcement with a swift release of the Federal Register Notice and immediate cessation of deportations to Ethiopia to ensure protection,” the coalition said. “Further, the TPS-DED AAC also calls for Special Student Relief to be granted to the over 2,000 Ethiopian students in the country who are impacted by the crisis back home.”

Advocates had steadily been urging Ethiopia’s designation with no action from the Biden administration. In another call earlier this month, TPS-DED AAC noted a continued delay on Ethiopia’s designation “flies in the face of Congressional intent and calls into question racial disparity in TPS decision-making.” In just one example, Cameroon’s designation this past April was won only after several years of advocacy. For comparison, Ukraine’s designation for TPS came within 10 days of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. Similarly lacking relief has been Mauritania, where persons deported from the U.S. may face violence, enslavement, and even death.

“While we welcome this decision, we again call upon the Biden administration to make similar judgements by designating TPS for Mauritania, a country which also suffers similar conditions,” said Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. executive director Anna Gallagher in a statement received by Daily Kos.

“We look forward to working with the administration on additional protections for Ethiopian refugees displaced by the war, including refugee resettlement, and more equitable treatment for Black and African refugees and immigrants in general,” Teferra continued.

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