Protected Status Extended For Haitians In US

Washington, Dec 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Dec, 2022 ) :The United States has extended protected status for thousands of Haitians in the country with expired stay permits due to turmoil in their homeland.

The Department of Homeland Security announced late Monday that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians in the United States before November 6 of this year would be extended to August 3, 2024.

That means the US will not forcibly repatriate any Haitian whose travel documents for a US stay have expired.

"We are providing much-needed humanitarian relief to Haitian nationals already present in the United States," Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

"The conditions in Haiti, including socioeconomic challenges, political instability, and gang violence and crime -- aggravated by environmental disaster -- compelled the humanitarian relief we are providing today." The program could apply to more than 260,000 Haitians, according to DHS data, including more than 100,000 who have lived in the United States under TPS for years, many dating back to the 2010 earthquake that devastated much of the Caribbean country.

In recent months, Haiti has witnessed further turmoil as security, political and health crises intersect -- a cholera outbreak and armed gangs taking over stretches of territory.

The United States has been reluctant over Haitian leaders' requests for intervention, preferring instead to bolster the police, but has also been speaking to other countries about sending in an international force.

State Department spokesman Ned price said the United States, in tandem with its announcement on migrants, was "working intently" with Haitian leaders.

"We're working very closely with a number of countries in this hemisphere and around the world to determine how we can best respond to the requests that we've heard directly from Haitian leaders," Price told reporters Tuesday.