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The Biden administration announced Haitian nationals living in the United States the chance to apply for a new, 18-month Temporary Protected Status designation. Image: Twitter/@Reuters
The Biden administration announced it will grant temporary protected status to tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status.
Haitian immigrants granted protected status will be exempt from deportation for 18 months, at which point the administration could extend or renew the designation.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas cited security concerns, social unrest, human right abuses and extreme poverty for the decision. Haitian immigrants in the U.S. were initially granted protected status in 2010 following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed 250,000 citizens.
Haiti plunged deeper into a constitutional crisis on Monday, with rival claims to the presidency, allegations of a coup attempt and police deployed to the Supreme Court.
The political chaos in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country threatened to further undermine its teetering democracy, as fears mounted that the warring factions and their proxies including the street gangs who control large swaths of Port-au-Prince, the capital could push long-simmering violence to new levels.
“We are witnessing the making of a Somalia in the Americas,” said Ralph P. Chevry, a board member of the Haiti Center for Socio Economic Policy in Port-au-Prince.