Organizations in the Haitian community today activated a campaign in Miami to keep the Temporary Protection Statute (TPS) in force for more than 58,000 people of that nationality, coinciding with the expiration of the deadline for registration with a view to its possible renewal .
Haitians benefited from this measure taken to help the victims of the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 had deadline from May 24 to today to register.
Migration authorities have signaled that they may not renew the TPS for Haitians after January 22, 2018, when the last extension ends for six months.
Both Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and James McCament, Acting Director of Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS), have argued that conditions in Haiti have improved enough to end the “temporary protection situation “Which 58,706 Haitians enjoy and that they should prepare to return to their country.
In Miami, the Haitian women’s organization FANM celebrated today an act to launch a national campaign to “save the TPS”.
The leaders of FANM claimed that Haiti is not prepared to take over 58,000 people, whose return may lead to destabilization and increase food insecurity, as the country would no longer receive remittances sent by TPS beneficiaries.
In the opinion of FANM, it is necessary to extend the TPS and not for six months but for two years.
In a series of tweets, FANM stressed that deporting the 58,706 Haitians, 263,282 Salvadorans and 86,163 Honduran beneficiaries of temporary status will cost US $ 3.1 billion for US taxpayers.
In addition, it will result in a reduction of 45.2 billion dollars in the Gross Domestic Product of the United States.
The Haitian women’s organization, who had been in Washington for the last few days to present their arguments in Congress, said that Florida Senators Marco Rubio, Republican, and Bill Nelson, Democrat, gave their support.
The TPS of Hondurans and Nicaraguans, which are 5,349, expire on January 5 next year, while those of the Salvadorans end on March 9, 2018.
