Trump turns his back on Haitian quake refugees

"DONALD TRUMP has opened a new front in his war on immigrants and refugees.

Beyond the intensified raids against the undocumented, repeated attempts to ban Muslims from entering the country and promises to deliver his apartheid wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the Trump administration has announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 59,000 Haitians--with a deadline of July 2019 for them to leave the U.S.

The Haitians were given TPS because they were stranded in the U.S. after a devastating earthquake in 2010 leveled much of Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.

Now, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke claims that the "extraordinary but temporary conditions caused by the 2010 earthquake no longer exist." With the same rationale, the U.S. is pressuring the United Nations to withdraw the bulk of military forces that have occupied Haiti since 2004--without rectifying the further problems the occupiers have caused in Haiti, much less their failure to contribute to ordinary Haitians' well-being..."

continue reading