Report
MRS Report Mission Trip to Haiti Final (2017)
MRS Report Mission Trip to Haiti Final
Haiti’s Ongoing Road to Recovery: The Necessity of an Extension of Temporary Protected Status, November 2017
From September 4-7, 2017, a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS) traveled to Port-au Prince, Haiti to examine country conditions and analyze the need for an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals living in the U.S.
Most Reverend Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami and a member of the USCCB Committee on Migration led the delegation. Archbishop Wenski was accompanied by Most Reverend Launay Saturné, Bishop of Jacmel, Haiti; William Canny, Executive Director of USCCB/ MRS; Jeanne Atkinson, Executive Director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC); and Melissa Hastings, Policy Advisor at USCCB/MRS.
TPS is a temporary, renewable, and statutorily authorized immigration status that allows individuals to remain and work lawfully in the U.S. during a period in which it is deemed unsafe for nationals of that country to return home. Congress passed TPS as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, which President George H.W. Bush signed into law on November 29, 1990. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with other appropriate agencies, may designate a country for TPS in instances of ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster or epidemic, or in other situations where there are extraordinary and temporary conditions that prevent nationals from safely returning to their home country.