NEW YORK, New York – The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), and the Brooklyn Democratic Party Leader, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, have welcomed the US government’s decision to extend the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti for an additional 18 months.
Brooklyn Democratic Party Leader, Rodneyse Bichotte HermelynThe Joe Biden administration said earlier this week that TPS will be extended from February 4, 2023, through August 3, 2024, “due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas also “redesignated Haiti for TPS”, allowing Haitian nationals residing in the United States, as of November 6, 2022, to apply for TPS through August 3, 2024, “so long as they meet all eligibility requirements.”
NYIC’s executive director, Murad Awawdeh, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that many Haitians arrived earlier in the US as refugees, escaping violent displacement and climate disaster.
“The extension and redesignation of TPS for Haiti recognizes the ongoing political instability and the continuing crisis in Haiti. We applaud the Biden administration for extending and redesignating TPS for Haiti, as Haitian New Yorkers cannot return to a country that continues to be unsafe and in turmoil.”
At the same time, Awawdeh urged the Biden administration to also include El Salvador, Mauritania, Nicaragua and Venezuela for TPS extension and redesignation.
Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, New York noted that “Haiti is reeling from multiple crises.”
She said these include natural disasters, political instability and the assassination of their former president, and COVID-19.
“The US needs to aid the people of Haiti in their homeland and in our nation as they desperately face these problems,” she told CMC, adding “I sincerely thank all the advocates and legislators, including members of the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network (NHAEON), who supported the Haiti Development, Accountability and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act”.
Bichotte Hermelyn said she was also “grateful” to US Senate Majority Leader, Charles “Chuck” Schumer for “leading the Senate passage of the sweeping bill, which will extend and predesignate TPS for Haitians in the US, along with measuring the progress of post-disaster recovery and promoting efforts to address corruption, governance, rule of law and media freedoms.”
In hailing the Biden administration’s announcement on Monday, Schumer, Democrat of New York, said he was “proud” that the administration heeded his call to extend TPS for Haiti and “redesignate Haiti for TPS, protecting Haitians in New York and across the country.
Mayorkas stressed in a statement on Monday that “Haitians entering the United States after November 6, 2022, are not eligible for TPS and, like other individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States, will be subject to removal,
DHS said a soon-to-be-published Federal Register notice will explain the eligibility criteria, timelines, and procedures necessary for current beneficiaries to re-register and renew Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), and for new applicants to submit an initial application under the redesignation and apply for an EAD.
