U.S. officials announced Friday that the Biden administration will protect more than 300,000 Haitians from deportation and allow them to work in Haiti. This is the latest measure to prevent migrants from returning to countries where they face poor conditions.
The administration’s action will make Haitians who arrived after November 2022 but before early June eligible for temporary protected status, according to the Department of Homeland Security. This comes amid a flurry of recent immigration actions from President Biden. This includes efforts to make it easier for illegal spouses of U.S. citizens to obtain U.S. citizenship and to block asylum claims at the southern border.
Mr. Biden has shifted to a more restrictive stance on the southern border, which some see as an attempt to boost his reelection chances. He has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle for his policies. Those on the left, including immigration activists, criticize his crackdown on asylum, while those on the right, including former President Donald J. Trump, see him as too lenient on those entering the country illegally.
The Biden administration has used temporary protected status over the years to protect hundreds of thousands of migrants, including from countries such as Venezuela, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Haiti.
The protections for Haiti come as violence and upheaval, including the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, ravage the country. Gangs controlled most of the country.
“Several regions of Haiti continue to face violence or unrest, and many areas have limited access to safety, health care, food, and water,” DHS said in a release Friday.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas designated Haiti with temporary protected status in 2021 and renewed that status in late 2022. The administration also extended benefits to those already receiving them.
The move “will provide lifesaving protection to hundreds of thousands of Haitians and their families,” said Gerlin Joseph, executive director of the advocacy group Haiti Bridge Alliance.
Despite the government’s protection of some Haitians from deportation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has continued to deport people to Haiti in recent months.
Earlier this year, ICE agents deported dozens of Haitians to a location a few hours north of the capital. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement at the time that Haitians have legal avenues to enter the United States.
“We continue to encourage Haitians to use safe and orderly channels, including humanitarian parole procedures for Haitians,” the statement said.
The State Department has evacuated embassy staff and their families from South Korea starting in July 2023 and warned U.S. visitors not to visit, saying the country is unsafe for Americans because of “kidnappings, crime, civil unrest and poor health care infrastructure.”
In March, the United Nations reported that more than 1,500 Haitians have lost their lives to gang violence this year.
Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned in late April after pressure from local gangs forced him to remain abroad.
“We have served our country through difficult times,” Mr. Henry wrote in his resignation letter. “I sympathize with the loss and suffering our compatriots have experienced during this time.”
In a letter to the Biden administration in March, Democratic lawmakers urged it to extend the protections and halt deportations to the United States.
“The serious escalation of risk that Haitians face in their home country sufficiently meets the requirements for TPS redesignation and suspension of all deportation flights to Haiti.” It’s written in a letter signed by 67 Democrats and independent lawmakers. “These two actions are necessary to ensure that the United States does not return the Haitian people to a government that is incapable of protecting its citizens—often subjecting them to repression and violence—and to gangs that brutally victimize and operate without restrictions.”
