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Miles Archer

(18,837 posts)
Thu Sep 7, 2017, 10:04 AM Sep 2017

50,000 Haitians living in the US. No full Haiti recovery from Matthew. Here comes Irma, and Trump.

Haiti Still Hasn’t Recovered From Hurricane Matthew. Now Here Comes Irma.
The storm has huge implications for 50,000 Haitians living in the US.
NATHALIE BAPTISTESEP. 7, 2017 6:00 AM



Aerial view of homes that were damaged during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.Rebecca Blackwell/AP

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/haiti-still-hasnt-recovered-from-hurricane-matthew-now-here-comes-irma/

Not only is Haiti still recovering from previous disasters, but Haitian nationals living abroad are also facing a potential forced return to the island. The Trump administration decided in May not to renew the temporary protected status (TPS) program that allows them to work and live legally in the United States. After a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake leveled buildings and killed an estimated 300,000 people in 2010, the Obama administration granted to Haitians this special reprieve for foreign nationals whose home countries have experienced a humanitarian disaster. Since then, an estimated 50,000 Haitian nationals have taken advantage of TPS to work and live legally in the United States.

TPS is typically renewed on a 6- to 18-month basis, and given the ongoing recovery process from multiple disasters, the Obama administration regularly renewed the status for Haitians. The latest renewal is set to expire in January 2018, and the Trump administration has signaled that it will not be extended beyond that date. Tens of thousands of Haitians already faced returning to a poor country unable to absorb them. Some have even fled to Canada because of false rumors that the Canadian government was offering free residency to Haitians with or without TPS.

Critics of the decision have said Haiti is still reeling from the aftermath of the earthquake, a cholera outbreak unintentionally caused by the United Nations, and Hurricane Matthew, which came ashore on the southern coast of Haiti last October and killed around 900 people.

In August, Rep. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging the agency to extend TPS for Haitians because of Hurricane Matthew. “[Its] destruction compounded these problems and created new ones, killing more than 1,000 people, devastating Haiti’s infrastructure and agricultural system, and leaving many Haitians without a secure supply of food or shelter,” he said.
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50,000 Haitians living in the US. No full Haiti recovery from Matthew. Here comes Irma, and Trump. (Original Post) Miles Archer Sep 2017 OP
"Beyond the mountains, more mountains". greatauntoftriplets Sep 2017 #1

greatauntoftriplets

(175,698 posts)
1. "Beyond the mountains, more mountains".
Thu Sep 7, 2017, 10:29 AM
Sep 2017

That's an old Haitian proverb. The combination of these two events and herr drump's hatred of non-white immigrants constitutes yet another mountain for this beleaguered nation.

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