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Tell Obama to Fast-Track Visas for Haitian Earthquake Survivors
  1. Signatures
    391 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. The President of the United States (+ 4 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • The President of the United States
      • The U.S. Senate
      • The U.S. House of Representatives
      • Secretary, Dept. of Homeland Security (Janet Napolitano)
      • Director, Congressional Relations and GAO/OIG Audit Liaison Office (Elliott Williams)
  2. Created By
    Te-Ping Chen
    Washington, DC
About this Petition Petition Letter
Why This Is Important

On Jan. 12, Haiti was hit with one of the worst disasters in recent history, an earthquake that's killed at least 150,000 people.

Many other critically injured children need to be allowed to enter the United States to receive emergency medical care. But so far, the Department of Homeland Security has given permission to fly only 200 children with critical injuries to the U.S.

Thousands of Haitians in the United States also remain separated from family members that have survived the imediate disaster, but remain stranded inside the quake-devastated nation.

Ask Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to fast-track review of all visa applications from Haiti.

Recent Signatures

Please fast-track review of visas for Haitian earthquake survivors

Greetings,

To date, the devastating earthquake in Haiti has killed at least 150,000, shattering countless more lives. Many children in Haiti have lost their parents, while hundreds of thousands more survivors remain stranded in Port-au-Prince without food, jobs or shelter.

The White House has taken the much-needed and commendable step of offering humanitarian parole to those Haitian orphans whose adoption processes were already underway when the quake hit. The decision to offer temporary protected status to Haitians already in the U.S., too, was an important stop-gap measure.

Yet thousands of additional earthquake survivors are sorely in need of urgent attention.

Haitians who have relatives in the U.S. and critically injured children who require medical treatment unavailable in Haiti should have their visa applications come under swift review. (So far, the Washington Post reports that Department of Homeland Security has granted only 200 critically injured children permission to enter the U.S.)

I urge you to use your authority to encourage the White House to work with the DHS to fast-track the review of these groups in Haiti. While the earthquake was a natural disaster no person had the capacity to prevent, the Obama administration has the power in its hands to stop still more needless deaths.

Many thanks for your attention and efforts on this key humanitarian issue.

[Your name]