New York Times
By Erick Eckholm
October 17, 2014
The
Obama administration said Friday that starting in 2015 it would reduce
the lengthy delays facing thousands of Haitians who have already been
approved to join family
members in the United States and become legal permanent residents.
Currently,
American citizens or permanent residents living in this country may
apply for a residency visa, known as a green card, on behalf of
relatives in Haiti. More
than 100,000 such relatives have been approved but, because of annual
caps, some of them face wait times of up to a dozen years before they
can receive visas.
Speeding
family reunification has been a goal of Haitian immigrant groups and
supported by both Republican and Democratic politicians in Florida. A
similar policy already
exists for Cuban families.
The
Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program will sidestep the quota
logjam for a limited group of Haitians — those scheduled to receive
their entry visas within two
years. Immigration officials will offer those applicants a special
parole status that would allow them to live and, in most cases, work in
the United States while they await official resident status.
Federal
authorities did not release estimates of how many Haitians would
benefit, but immigrant groups predicted that only a small fraction of
those on the wait list would
receive documents soon.
“We
are grateful that the administration is doing the right thing for
Haitian families,” said Cheryl Little, the executive director of
Americans for Immigrant Justice
in Miami. “But the relief is more restricted than what we were hoping
for,” she added, noting that many Haitian relatives are likely to face
several more years of waiting.
Between
the time limit on eligibility and staff constraints at the American
Consulate in Haiti, she said, it appeared that the number of relatives
entering early next
year was likely to be in the thousands, but not in the tens of
thousands.
By
contrast, a group favoring reduced immigration, the Federation for
American Immigration Reform, condemned the program as an “unlawful
rewriting of U.S. immigration
law.”
President
Obama has promised to make major changes to the immigration system by
the end of the year, potentially affecting millions who are in the
country illegally.
Friday’s
announcement is not part of that broader executive action, but includes
an element that the administration is considering for wider use. In
some proposals, temporary
parole, like that planned for the Haitian relatives, could be offered
to a much larger group of close relatives of American citizens who are
in the United States illegally.
The
new Haitian program supports American goals of family unification and
the economic progress of Haiti, Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of
Homeland Security, said
in Friday’s announcement. But officials emphasized that the expedited
entry would be available only to those relatives residing in Haiti, and
not those who had managed to sneak into the United States.
“There’s
no use in taking to the seas and risking life and limb to get to the
United States,” said Christopher S. Bentley, a spokesman for the
Homeland Security Department.
“In order to participate in this program, you have to be in Haiti.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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