You learn something new every day! Thanks to Blulitespecial for sending this CNN article. I had no idea we gave temporary protection to citizens of countries undergoing civil unrest. Amazing! Does that mean that instead of hauling tens of thousands of wealthy “refugees” from Iraq and paying their airfare and all of their expenses we could just let them come here for awhile on their own dime and set a date for them to return to Iraq? Just wondering.
Thousands of Liberians living in the United States face deportation March 31 when a federal immigration status created for humanitarian purposes expires.
Corvah Akoiwala is worried about what will happen to his children, born in the U.S., when he is sent to Liberia.
In the 1990s, a bloody civil war raged through the West African nation, killing 250,000 people and displacing more than a million, according to a U.N. report. The United States extended “temporary protection status” to all Liberians who could get to America, and 14,000 of them took advantage of that humanitarian offer.
Temporary protection status is an immigration status somewhere between political asylum and refugee status. Administered by the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, it is extended to nationals of countries facing civil unrest or natural disaster.
For years, the temporary protection status for Liberians was extended as the situation there worsened under dictator Charles Taylor. But Taylor was ousted in 2003 and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected Liberia’s first female president in 2006. In 2007, citing the progress in Liberia, President George W. Bush signed an order of “delayed enforced departure” for Liberians who had been under temporary protection status, giving them 18 months to return to Liberia.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island wants them to stay.
Many of these Liberians have become important parts of the communities where they live in the United States,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island. There is a large Liberian community in his home state.
But then why have temporary humanitarian assistence if they are all allowed to stay? Good question!
Critics say Liberians should go back to Liberia when their status runs out.
“It is time for people to go back and rebuild their country,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Stein underlines the temporary in “temporary protected status.” He said for Liberians to stay when their country is at peace would be an abuse of U.S. hospitality.
“It makes a mockery of the concept of short-term temporary humanitarian protection.”
So what do you think the chances are that those ICE airlines flights I told you about yesterday fly to Africa?
By the way, the country of Liberia was founded by freed American slaves who wanted their own country in Africa.