23404: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Haitians' travel papers get priority (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, Oct. 08, 2004





TROPICAL STORM JEANNE | U.S. IMMIGRATION


Haitians' travel papers get priority

Immigration officials announced that they will expedite the processing of
travel documents for Haitian immigrants who need to visit relatives in
flood-devastated areas of their homeland.

BY ALFONSO CHARDY

achardy@herald.com


Immigration officials in South Florida said Thursday that they have put in
place expedited procedures to help Haitian immigrants get travel documents
to visit Haiti in case they have family emergencies stemming from deadly
floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne.

Meanwhile, the State Department said it was reviewing a request by Haitian
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue that the United States grant emergency
residence and work permits for thousands of undocumented Haitian migrants
while their country recovers from Jeanne's passage.

The developments suggest an interest on the part of the Bush administration
in focusing on demands by the Haitian community to ease the plight of some
Haitians in the United States, many of whom either have no legal papers or
are in detention facing deportation.

Requests for temporary protected status for illegal Haitian migrants
intensified after Jeanne struck northwest Haiti as a tropical storm last
month.

The decision to expedite processing of travel documents for Haitian
immigrants was announced Thursday in a statement issued by the Florida
district office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Ana Santiago, a Miami spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security,
which oversees the immigration service, said district offices in Miami, West
Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville ``will establish special
procedures for individuals to apply for an advance-parole document on an
expedited basis.''

''Advance parole'' is documentary permission for foreign nationals seeking
legal status, such as permanent residence, to reenter the United States
while their applications are pending.

''Members of the Haitian communities . . . who have experienced serious
family emergencies in Haiti because of Tropical Storm Jeanne can visit these
offices without an appointment to apply for an advance parole,'' Santiago
said in the statement. ``Their . . . applications will be processed, and if
approved, the advance-parole document . . . will be issued immediately.''

Immigration officials said they did not know how many Haitian applicants
would benefit from the expedited measures.

In fiscal year 2003, about 12,000 Haitians were admitted as immigrants.

That figure contrasts with the estimated 20,000 undocumented Haitians living
in the United States who would benefit from temporary protected status, the
benefit requested by Latortue.

A State Department official, who asked that she not be named, said that
while the department was reviewing Latortue's request, it had ``not yet made
a decision to recommend TPS for Haitian nationals residing in the United
States.''

''We continue to monitor the situation closely with regard to the
requirements for TPS,'' she added.

She also made it a point to note the United States had provided $9.9 million
in disaster relief to areas affected by Jeanne.



Doubts taint aid to Haiti

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