<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div id="container" class="container font-size5 content-width3">
<div id="reader-header" class="header" style="display: block;"> <font
size="-2"><a id="reader-domain" class="domain"
href="http://sfbayview.com/2017/04/baji-black-activists-call-for-halt-to-deportation-of-50000-haitians-and-4000-somalis/">http://sfbayview.com/2017/04/baji-black-activists-call-for-halt-to-deportation-of-50000-haitians-and-4000-somalis/</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Black activists call for halt to
deportation of 50,000 Haitians and 4,000 Somalis</h1>
<div id="meta-data" class="meta-data">
<div id="reader-estimated-time">April 26, 2017<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div id="moz-reader-content" class="line-height4"
style="display: block;">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page"
xml:base="http://sfbayview.com/2017/04/baji-black-activists-call-for-halt-to-deportation-of-50000-haitians-and-4000-somalis/">
<div class="entry">
<p><strong><em>by The Black Alliance for Just Immigration
(BAJI) </em></strong></p>
<p><em>Washington, D.C. </em>– The 60-day notification
deadline for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
re-designation is rapidly approaching, on May 23, 2017,
for Haitian nationals. If re-designation is not granted,
as many as 50,000 Haitians living across the United
States will be stripped of work authorization and will
be prioritized for ICE removal.</p>
<h3><span>The 60-day notification deadline for Temporary
Protected Status (TPS) re-designation is rapidly
approaching, on May 23, 2017, for Haitian nationals.</span></h3>
<p>Local, state and national campaigns are working against
the clock to ensure that Temporary Protected Status is
re-designated for Haitian nationals living in the United
States. Haitians living in Florida, New York and New
Jersey will be hit especially hard as these states are
home to the larger part of the Haitian Diaspora in the
United States.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is
responsible for making decisions and releasing
information on the re-designation of Temporary Protected
Status. Thus far, DHS has not released a decision on
re-designation, leaving members of the Haitian community
unsettled, anxious and worried about their safety and
well-being.</p>
<h3><span>If re-designation is not granted, as many as
50,000 Haitians living across the United States will
be stripped of work authorization and will be
prioritized for ICE removal.</span></h3>
<p>Nana Brantuo, policy manager for the Black Alliance for
Just Immigration, states, “Considering the current
Haitian migrant crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border along
with the trials – post Hurricane Matthew – that
continues to impede the progress of Haiti’s national
development, stripping 50,000 Haitian nationals of TPS
status, prioritizes them for removal and raises major
concerns around the readiness of Haiti to handle such a
large number of deportees.”</p>
<p>In discussing the trials faced by Haitian immigrants
living in the United States, the intersections of race
and nationality ground conversation on the ways in which
the immigration system is explicitly biased against
Black immigrants in the United States.</p>
<h3><span>The intersections of race and nationality ground
conversation on the ways in which the immigration
system is explicitly biased against Black immigrants
in the United States.</span></h3>
<h3><strong>ICE is deporting over 4,000 Somalis</strong></h3>
<p>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is
currently removing over 4,000 Somalis residing in the
United States, according to Ahmed Isse Awad, Somalia’s
U.S. ambassador.</p>
<p>The deportations will impact the Somalis living across
the nation, hitting the Somali population in the Midwest
especially hard, as the largest population of Somalis
lives in Minnesota.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for
disseminating details around mass deportations. Thus
far, DHS has not released any information on the pending
mass removal, leaving members of the Somali community
unsettled, anxious and worried about their safety and
well-being.</p>
<p>As stated by Opal Tometi, executive director of the
Black Alliance for Just Immigration: “The pending
deportation of Somali immigrants is a matter of ethics
and morality. The current state of affairs in Somalia –
a nation that has dealt with decades of political
instability and is currently experiencing drought and
possibly one of the worst famines in history – is one of
fragility. To deport such a large number of nationals
while the country is faced with issues of national,
economic and food security is inhumane.”</p>
<h3><span>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or
ICE, is currently removing over 4,000 Somalis residing
in the United States.</span></h3>
<p>As with Haitians, in discussing the trials faced by
Somali immigrants living in the United States, the
intersections of race, nationality and religion ground
conversation in the ways in which the immigration system
is explicitly biased against Black immigrants in the
United States.</p>
<p>Understanding the essential role the news media plays
in influencing the political and legal landscape of the
nation, it is equally as essential that members of the
media are aware of changes that are affecting citizens
and non-citizens alike.</p>
<p>The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) has been
deeply committed to and engaged in racial justice and
migrants’ rights organizing and advocacy over the past
11 years. With five offices in New York City, Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Oakland and Washington, D.C., BAJI works to
address mass criminalization, economic inequality and
the impact of immigration and law enforcement laws and
policies on Black immigrant communities.</p>
<h3><span>The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
has been deeply committed to and engaged in racial
justice and migrants’ rights organizing and advocacy
over the past 11 years. </span></h3>
<p>BAJI has also been actively engaged in work on the <a
href="http://blackalliance.org/stand-with-haiti/">detention
and deportation of Haitians</a> in the U.S. as well as
Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition,
BAJI has also been actively engaged in discussing the
impact of the <a
href="http://blackalliance.org/blog_memorandum-potential-impact-of-recent-executive-orders-on-black-immigrants-refugees/">shifting
legal and political landscape</a> in the United States
on <a
href="http://blackalliance.org/blog_mohamed_whyyoushouldbetalkingaboutfamineinafrica/">Somalia
and several other African nations</a>.</p>
<p>It is BAJI’s intention to shift the mainstream
narrative of immigration – specifically immigration
enforcement – by discussing the intersections of race,
ethnicity, nationality and religion and the ways in
which the immigration system is explicitly biased
against Black immigrants in the United States.</p>
<p><em>The </em><a href="http://blackalliance.org/"><em>Black
Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)</em></a><em> is
an education and advocacy group comprised of African
Americans and Black immigrants from Africa, Latin
American and the Caribbean. BAJI engages African
Americans and other communities in dialogue that leads
to actions that challenge U.S. immigration policy and
the underlying issues of race, racism and economic
inequity that frame it.</em></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>