No Comments

NATIONAL COALITION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND BLACK IMMIGRANT LEADERS AFFIRM VICTORY FOR HAITIAN COMMUNITY

Haitian-Americans Receive Long Awaited Visa Program to Reunite Family Members After 5 Years of National Advocacy

TIM, Immigration, News Release

[New York, NY – Friday October 17th, 2014]  Advocates of the Reunite Haitian-American Families Campaign have achieved a significant victory in the October 17th Department of Homeland Security announcement of a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (HFRP). Prior to this federal announcement longstanding support for FRPP grew from key national efforts like the Reunite Haitian American Families Campaign that is sponsored by the national coalition Black Immigration Network, which includes organizations such as the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees and Haitian Women of Miami.

Co-Chair of the Reunite Haitian-American Families Campaign and Executive Director of BAJI, Opal Tometi explains, “Immigrant rights organizations launched the campaign as the domestic and international Haitian community dealt with the powerful earthquake that shook the Haitian capital of Port au-Prince. Living conditions began to worsen as communities displaced to tents began to number into the hundreds of thousands. This fragile situation degraded further with the onset of a cholera outbreak from unscreened UN troops.”

“In response to this crisis President Obama approved family-based visas for 110,000 Haitians in a move similar to the policy created for Cuban beneficiaries. When Haitian visa recipients stayed on waiting lists, some for over a decade, a call went out for a Family Reunification Parole Program that would expedite family reunification by allowing already approved visa recipients legally enter the U.S. and reunite family members”, said Ninaj Raoul, Executive Director of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees and Co-Chair of the Reunite Haitian-American Families Campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security has responded to the demands of immigrants groups and the Reunite Haitian American Families campaign. Members of this campaign believe this is an important step expedites for recipients whose visas are within two years of being current. Analysts have shown that nearly 110,000 Haitians have been on the waiting list for up to 12 years.  Depending on the implementation approach way the program is structured we are currently estimating it will cover only 5,000 individuals who can not file immediately.

Opal Tometi the Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration believes that, “It is clear that we are being heard, but it is important that we understand that this is just one step in our journey to get the needs of the Haitian-American community met. We will watch the Department of Homeland Security closely to see how they plan on implementing this program and call on them to proceed with a strategy to expedite the process for all Haitians who’ve already been approved.”

Advocates for the Haitian FRPP call for a broader program with the Cuban parole program as a model.

Support for a broad and comprehensive FRPP is resonating in a Haitian community that by 2009 reached 830,000 members across the country.

Marliene Bastien executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami/Haitian Women of Miami and Co-Chair of the Reunite Haitian-American Families Campaign  told the Miami Herald, “we will continue to work for the rest of the group who are qualified, to get them the opportunity to be reunited with their family members because they have been waited for so long.”

For more information visit: www.reunitehaitianfamilies.com

You might also like

More Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.
You need to agree with the terms to proceed

Menu