This originally appeared in caribworldnews.com
Many in the Haitian community are waiting now with bated breath to see if the Barack Obama administration will change its mind on deporting more than 30,000 Haitians.
The White House has yet to make an official statement on the issue or Patrick Gaspard`s visit to Florida Friday, but well-placed sources privy to behind the scenes discourse, tell CWNN that unofficially, all deportations have been halted, without any public announcement. The Haitian voting bloc in South Florida was ardently courted by team Obama and of course his Haitian American political director, Gaspard.
The USICE, the agency that handles the issues, could not be reached for comment on the claim late yesterday.
The claim comes as Florida Congressmembers Kendrick Meek and Alcee Hastings are set to meet with Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, today to discuss the situation, according to our source.
`The officials need time to discuss what’s going to happen on a longer term, before a statement can be made. But all options are on the table, including Temporary Protected Status and DED (Deferred Enforcement Departure), with regular revisions of the Haitian situation,` said the source.
But apparently some U.S. officials fear that a Haitian TPS may become similar to the program for some Central American countries, which have had it for years, long after the original situation that called for it has been rectified. Or, worst, trigger an exodus of Haitians from the poverty stricken country of Haiti.
The ongoing focus on the issue comes as a United Nations human rights expert on Friday called on the United States not to deport undocumented Haitians as their country still hadn’t recovered from the destruction caused by last year’s hurricanes.
Michel Forst, an independent human rights expert, said the US Department of Homeland Security should not deport `tens of thousands` of Haitians living illegally in the U.S.
Forst said other countries hit by natural disasters had been granted Temporary Protected Status by Washington, which allowed them to receive US assistance. But Haiti was not given that status, he claimed, even though consecutive hurricanes devastated the country and impacted an estimated 800,000 people.
`It would therefore be normal to continue to provide support and assistance to all undocumented Haitian migrants living in the US until the situation has improved in their homeland,` Forst said in his appeal to the U.S. government.
Human rights experts say TPS is the least expensive and most immediate form of humanitarian assistance the US could give Haiti.
