Urgent Request: Sign Letter & Fax to President Obama demanding TPS for Haitians and a Halt to all deportations of Haitians!
Urgent Request for Support & Solidarity
Dear NNIRR Members, Partners, Allies & Friends:
We are asking you to take three immediate actions by calling President Barack Obama to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and to demand a halt to the deportation of all Haitians.
NNIRR is supporting this on-going action organized by the Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami/Haitian Women of Miami and the Florida Immigrant Coalition with other grassroots and advocacy organizations in
Please take these three actions today to support TPS for Haitians and a halt to all deportations!
1. We are asking organizations to sign and fax the below letter to President Obama on your organization's letterhead.
2. Pick up the telephone and call the White House. Tell President Obama to end the Bush Administration's inhumane policy towards
3. Sign an on-line petition that asks President Obama to grant TPS to Haitians and halt deportations: http://www.petitiononline.com/TPS2009/petition.html
4. Please see background news articles below, too.
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PLEASE CUT AND PASTE OR WRITE YOUR OWN LETTER TO PRES. OBAMA
DATE
President Barack Obama
The White House
Fax: 202-456-2461
RE: The Administration Should Urgently Stay Deportations to
Dear President Obama:
First, congratulations on your new job. Immigrant communities look forward to working with your administration. Certainly you have many pressing priorities. We are compelled, however, to bring to your attention a life or death matter: Haitian deportees face hunger, homelessness and unemployment, if not worse, in the wake of four killer storms that further devastated our hemisphere's poorest nation. We urge you to immediately stay deportations to
These deportations are inhumane and, we believe, contrary to your administration's values of fairness, transparency and respect for human rights. Please consider:
· • The former administration stayed deportations to
· • Conditions in
· • Staying the deportations is in the interest of the U.S. Sending more people in need of food and shelter will further burden the Haitian government, which already is overwhelmed by the magnitude of the natural disaster. Deportees only delay recovery efforts. Meanwhile, Haitians who remain here would continue to send remittances, encouraging relatives to stay in
· • These deportations tear apart families, hurting
Across the
Sincerely,
NAME
Organization
Address
City, State Zip Code
Contact Telephone and email
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Fact Sheet/Talking Points for
TPS for Haitians
STOP DEPORTATIONS NOW
Call and Fax the White House:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Or visit: www.whitehouse.gov
Why the
· During a one-month period, and in rapid succession, FOUR DEVASTATING STORMS ravaged
· The World Bank assessed the storm damage at nearly ONE BILLION DOLLARS, or about 15 percent of
· THIS EQUALS EIGHT TO TEN HURRICANE KATRINAS HITTING THE UNITED STATES IN A MONTH
· The United Nations has called this "the worst disaster to hit
· Over 800 people were killed, with thousand missing or injured
·
· Massive flooding caused nationwide damage to agriculture and infrastructure including roads, bridges, water and sanitation systems, schools, hospitals and housing.
· Inadequate sanitation and potable water and standing pools of polluted flood water have left hundreds of thousands at risk of malaria, hepatitis, and cholera
· The nation's food crop has been largely destroyed, as have farm tools, seeds for next year's crop, and livestock and irrigation systems vital to farmers and rice production
· Dozens of children have starved to death, and UNICEF has said that 300,000 children are at risk of severe malnutrition
What the
· Immediately halt all deportations to
· Grant Deferred Enforced Departure and/or Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in the
· Authorize them to work;
· Release them from detention; and
· Suspend all legal and administrative proceedings against them.
How halting deportations helps
· Allows
· Enables Haitians in the
· Protects
· Safeguards U.S.-born American children from having their parents ripped away from them; the destruction of these families is fundamentally un-American.
· Restores
· IT IS THE HUMANE THING TO DO
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PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION
Click here to support TPS for Haitians & to demand a halt to the deportation of Haitians:
http://www.petitiononline.com/TPS2009/petition.html
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BACKGROUND NEWS ARTICLES
Institute for Southern Studies
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/02/will-obama-help-haitian-immigrants.html
Haitians facing deportation look to Obama for help
The
Deportation orders have been processed for 30,299 Haitians and they are starting to be implemented. Hundreds of Haitians have been put in camps awaiting the return home, while others have been put under a form of house arrest and are being monitored with electronic ankle bracelets, the AFP reported.
As the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, Haiti's troubles significantly increased with the passage of four deadly back-to-back storms last fall -- Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike -- that killed more than 800 persons and worsened the nation's food crisis. The storms devastated the small, impoverished island nation, washing away roads, bridges and crops. Thousands lost their homes. By some estimates, 80 percent of the country's population had been displaced by wide-ranging flood damage. A joint World Bank, United Nations and European Commission assessment released last November determined that total losses from the storms -- "the largest disaster for
Haitian President René Préval has urged the
The
Several
Protected status has been granted and extended by the DHS to people from a handful of African and Central American countries because of natural disasters. For instance, Hondurans are still getting TPS from a natural disaster that occurred in 1999. In addition to
The impact of
Now Haitian advocates are wondering if the Obama era will bring in fair immigration reform or just more of the same.
sun-sentinel.com/community/news/pompano_beach/sfl-flbhaitians0301sbmar01,0,978696.story
Protest held in Pompano Beach against U.S. policy on Haitians
Hundreds in
By Aiyana Baida
March 1, 2009
Hundreds of Haitians and supporters gathered to protest current
Under current immigration law, the 600 Haitians being held at the
Edwige Telemaque, host of the
"We have had four hurricanes that have left us with no security and no food," Telemaque said, "We are not looking for the
Shay Charles, 15, at the protest with her mother and five sisters, said she hopes their voices would reach Obama.
"My step-dad is in
Her mother Alita Polydor has sought legal counsel to help them unite their family. "I hope we can bring him home legally," Polydor said. She is one of thousands of broken families affected by current immigration laws.
Richard Champagne, a Haitian American who is president of Haitian Lawyers Association, led a coalition of civil and immigration lawyers whose message, "What do we want — TPS!" shouted with a bullhorn, could be heard two blocks away.
Jonel Lemy, an association lawyer who has defended deportees, said he has seen an increase in cases in the last six months.
"Arrests are up. People are being arrested as they drop their kids off at school or on their way to work," Lemy said.
"We will continue to protest and take our message to
The protest brought local Haitian performers together and had an unexpected visit from singers Wycelf and Melky Jean.
The siblings, who have each founded their own orga nizations that provide aid to
"To help
"It's not right that people that have been here for 20 years get deported and are sent away from their kids. They deserve a fair chance." Wyclef said.
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______________________________________________
Arnoldo Garcia
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados
Tel (510) 465-1984 ext. 305
Fax (510) 465-1885
www.migrantdiaries.blogspot.com
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See NNIRR's letter with signatures
to President Barack Obama at
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