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Tell I.C.E. to Stop Deportations to Haiti
  1. Signatures
    327 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. Director of I.C.E. (+ 1 other)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Director of I.C.E. (John Morton)
      • Homeland Security Secretary (Janet Napolitano)
  2. Created By
    Nadra Kareem Nittle
    Los Angeles, CA
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

May 18, 2011

More than a year after a 7.0 magnitude rocked Haiti’s infrastructure, large parts of the island-nation remain in ruins. Worse, deadly diseases such as cholera have killed nearly 5,000 people.

Because of this, Change.org blogger Nadra Kareem started a petition asking the federal government to extend the temporary protected status (TPS) Haitian nationals received after the quake beyond July 2011. More than 300 people signed the petition—and today they have cause to celebrate.

Yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that TPS would be extended for qualified Haitians beginning on July 23, allowing them to stay in the U.S. through Jan. 22, 2013.

After a 7.0 magnitude earthquake ravaged Haiti on Jan. 12, the U.S. government suspended deportations of Haitian immigrants. Instead of sending them back to the devastated island-nation, the government granted them temporary protected status. Well, that status is slated to expire in mid-July. To boot, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) has resumed rounding up Haitians who’ve served time for crimes and will begin deporting them in mid-January. The problem with this is that Haiti’s in no shape to receive these deportees.

Nearly a year after the earthquake, more than a million Haitians remain homeless. Moreover, a cholera outbreak has sickened more than 90,000 Haitians, and the recent elections in Haiti resulted in political unrest. Haiti’s recovery is nowhere near complete, so sending scores of deportees to the island-nation is a surefire way to overtax its already troubled government.  Because Haiti remains in such turmoil, organizations such as the Center for Constitutional Rights fear that anyone deported to Haiti may end up dying as a result of disease or other factors. There’s also great fear that I.C.E. won’t just target criminals for deportation, but a wide range of Haitians.

Tell I.C.E. it’s inhumane to deport immigrants to a nation in ruins. Those immigrants who’ve committed crimes can be detained in the U.S., and the rest of the Haitian community should be shielded from deportation until Haiti makes measurable strides in its recovery efforts.

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Postpone Deportations to Haiti Until the Nation No Longer Lies in Ruins

Greetings,

On Dec. 10, I.C.E. officials reportedly told the Associated Press that they would resume deporting Haitians in mid-January. But why round up immigrants and send them to a nation ill-equipped to receive them? Those Haitians who’ve served time for criminal offenses should be detained in the U.S. rather than deported to a nation in ruins, where they will very likely die of cholera if placed in a Haitian prison upon their return. Moreover, the lives of law-abiding Haitians will be placed at risk if the temporary protected status the U.S. government granted them after the quake is allowed to run out in July. Without that status, these Haitians will soon face deportation as well.

An I.C.E. official told the New York Times that the State Department is working with the Haitian government “to ensure that the resumption of removals is conducted in a safe, humane manner with minimal disruption to ongoing rebuilding efforts.” But how can that be when disease, homelessness and violence continue to afflict Haiti? Deportation is not a safe option. Therefore, I.C.E. should not exercise this option until Haiti has made significant advances in its recovery process.

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