Why on earth we even have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis is beyond me since we already have a massive refugee and asylum resettlement program for them and at a time when Somalia’s President is urging those in the diaspora to come home!
Readers TPS was started for the primary purpose of helping mostly Central Americans get to stay in the US after they illegally arrived here by the tens of thousands, but didn’t fit into the definition of “refugee.” They really need to take the “temporary” out of the name of the program.
Supposedly those applying would have been in the US prior to whatever incident (like a hurricane, earthquake, civil war etc.) happened and out of the goodness of our hearts we let them stay on until their country can recover—-some for more than a decade.
So what happens when TPS is not extended? They stay on anyway.
The 470 Somalis who have been registered in the TPS program can now legally stay for another 18 months! Who knows how those 470 came to be in the US in the first place (or when!), some may have arrived illegally or over-stayed a visa.
Here is a brief news story from the TC Daily Planet (hat tip: Tonya):
Temporary Protected Status for nationals of Somalia will be extended by 18 months effective March 18, 2014, according to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Rand Beers, in a statement to Mshale on Wednesday (Nov. 6).
About 470 Somalis applied for the last extension and redesignation in September 2012, according to a USCIS spokesperson.
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS as it is commonly known, is a designation by the United States Secretary of Homeland Security that “due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately”.
Here is the USCIS website that explains this phoney-baloney program. And, here are the countries whose nationals may apply at the moment.
Here is a Dept. of Justice site I just found. It tells us which countries were given TPS and when (except it doesn’t give the date of the designation for Somalis???).
Note that countries like Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador were designated in 1999 and 2001 respectively and have been extended many times—Honduras 18 times! Nicaragua 18 times! El Salvador 10 times! Why are they (tens of thousands) still here?
When we first began writing RRW, Liberians were allowed to stay under TPS (which allows them to work, get drivers licenses, etc), but I see the program for Liberia has ended. However, we didn’t deport the Liberians who had taken root in certain American cities, instead they have hunkered down and are waiting for ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ to receive amnesty surely like all the others whose TPS has expired!
In fact, the feds are having trouble getting the Haitians signed up because most don’t bother with the paperwork expecting Obama will soon legalize them all anyway.
Just a reminder, back in January the new President of Somalia traveled around the US asking Somalis to come home and help re-build Somalia, here. Excellent idea for those who have gained skills at US taxpayer expense—help Somalia recover and let’s stop the refugee flow to America.