U.S. denies Haitians protected status

Posted on Tuesday, 01.06.09
U.S. denies Haitians protected status
The administration has rejected storm-ravaged Haiti's request to grant undocumented Haitians in the United States a reprieve from deportation proceedings.

By JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@Miami Herald.com
The Bush administration has rejected a request by Haitian President René Préval and others to allow tens of thousands of undocumented Haitians living in the United States to stay until their homeland recovers from a string of deadly summer storms.

''After very careful consideration, I have concluded that Haiti does not currently warrant a TPS designation,'' Michael Chertoff, secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a letter last month to Préval.

Since the resumption of deportations last month -- after a three-month reprieve -- some 28 Haitians have been returned to Haiti, Michael Keegan, a DHS spokesman said.

''We are consulting with the Haitian government to see how much they can take back within their capabilities at this time,'' Keegan said.

The denial of TPS and resumption of deportations have outraged Haitian advocates, who say they plan to take their request for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

TPS was approved by Congress in 1990 for foreign nationals fleeing civil war and natural disasters. After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Washington granted several Central American countries TPS, and the designation was recently renewed.

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