While Haitians have been reeling from more than a year of civil and political unrest, in a letter to President Joe Biden a coalition of 422 advocacy groups (immigration, human rights, faith-based and civil rights organizations) call on President Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to stop all deportations to Haiti, release all Haitians detained by U.S. immigration and to make a new designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti under which people who cannot safely return to their home country can remain in the United States.

Let's recall that a few days ago, the Biden administration extended the TPS for citizens of 6 countries: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal and Sudan https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38112-haiti-flash-the-united-states-extends-the-tps-for-haiti-official.html , a decision that will allow nearly 400,000 people to remain in the United States until 30 June 2024. However, this extension only applies to current TPS recipients, while redesignation would open the door to new applicants…

The coalition of groups recalls in its letter the situation in Haiti "[...] armed groups, many controlled by members of the Haitian government, are terrorizing Haiti's capital with kidnappings and other violent crimes, which have spilled into cities across the country [...] The country has experienced a nationwide lockdown for several weeks, with roads and businesses blocked by barricades erected by armed groups. Civilians are being threatened, injured, sexually assaulted, or killed, and homes are being looted and burned by gang violence."

Download the full letter to Biden and the list of signatories : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/lettre-tps-22-11-2022.pdf

HL/ HaitiLibre