23248: (hermantin) Miami-Herald-Activists seek protection for storm-hurt migrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

   Posted on Thu, Sep. 23, 2004




HURRICANES | IMMIGRATION


Activists seek protection for storm-hurt migrants

Immigration advocates have asked for emergency residence status for victims
of Ivan and Jeanne in Haiti, Grenada and Cayman Islands.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES AND ALFONSO CHARDY

achardy@herald.com


South Florida immigrant rights advocates are stepping up pressure on the
Bush administration to grant emergency temporary residence and work permits
to thousands of migrants from Haiti, Grenada and the Cayman Islands whose
homelands were devastated by storms.

Cheryl Little, executive director of the Miami-based Florida Immigrant
Advocacy Center, issued a statement Tuesday urging Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge to place undocumented Haitians in the United States
under the Temporary Protected Status or TPS program -- reserved for
countries in crisis.

About 400,000 Central Americans from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua
currently have TPS as refugees from natural disasters -- earthquakes in El
Salvador and a hurricane in Honduras and Nicaragua. People with TPS are
entitled to temporary residence and work permits and are shielded from
deportation -- unless they are convicted of an aggravated felony.

EXTENSION

While Little limited her statement to Haitians, she told The Herald in a
telephone interview that TPS should also be extended to victims of Hurricane
Ivan in Grenada and the Cayman Islands, which were similarly devastated.

Tropical Storm Jeanne delivered the worst blow -- killing more than 600
people in devastating floods in Haiti.

José Lagos, president of Honduran Unity, said he endorsed Little's TPS
requests for Haitians and others.

''I pray for them and hope that their petition for TPS also be granted,
particularly now in light of the devastation in the Caribbean,'' he said.

A spokesman at Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, which handles TPS, referred a call to the State Department, which
makes recommendations on whether nationals of a country in crisis should
receive TPS.

A State Department official assigned to speak on the issue said her agency
has not made any recommendations on Haiti, the Cayman Islands or Grenada,
but is monitoring the situation.

Since Ivan struck the Cayman Islands, thousands of Caymanians and others
living on the islands have flocked daily to the airport looking to flee the
country for the United States or other countries. While some say their stay
will only be temporary, others hope to make it more permanent, leaving
behind notes on the windshields of vehicles saying, ``I am outta here.''

Susan Watler, a spokeswoman for the Cayman Islands government, said the
government has no plans to ask for TPS on behalf of its residents.

''We are rebuilding and putting things back together as quickly as possible,
and we really would like to have people who have left the island to return
and resume their work. It's not just something the government feels is
necessary,'' she said.

NO EXODUS

Denis Antoine, Grenada's ambassador to the United States, said his
government also hopes there is no widespread exodus from the island.
However, where circumstances require it, Antoine said, he hopes the United
States would show compassion to migrants who might no longer have homes on
the island.

''Such deportees will have no place to go, and we hope consideration will be
given to looking at the status of these individuals and reassessing the need
for their deportation,'' Antoine said.

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