Department of Homeland Security will implement the Haitian Family Reunification Parole (HFRP) Program by early next year.
According to the Miami Herald:
There are approximately 100,000 Haitians in the immigration pipeline in Haiti but only those two years away from being issued an immigrant visa for a green card will be eligible to apply. Once paroled into the United States, individuals will be eligible to apply for a work permit and continue their wait for the green card while here.
Haitian and immigration advocates, who launched the push for accelerated family reunification in the days after Haiti’s devastating Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, welcomed the major policy shift but vowed to keep fighting on behalf of all those who remain in visa backlog. For some, the wait is as long as 12 years.
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The hemisphere’s worst disaster, Haiti’s quake killed more than 300,000, injured an equal number and left 1.5 million homeless. he expedited program announcement comes not only three months before the fifth anniversary of the disaster, but reportedly ahead of plans by President Barack Obama to legalize by executive action, many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. This summer, Obama threatened to fix the country’s immigration woes by taking action on his own after congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
Last year, the Senate passed a bill that would have provided a path to legal status for millions of long-term undocumented immigrants while also strengthening border security. But House Republicans refused to consider the Senate bill, which some conservatives said was amnesty for lawbreakers.
“Comprehensive immigration reform would have solved this problem not just for Haitians but for all other nationalities who are waiting in the immigrant visa backlog because it would have substantially increased the numbers of family immigrant visas available and people would have been able to come in as permanent residents,” said a senior U.S. government official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “As it hasn’t happened, we are proceeding with this program.”
The relief for Haitians hasn’t been as controversial as the anticipated executive action because it involves a limited number of Haitian nationals.
Officials point out that the Haitian family reunification program is fashioned after a similar program for Cubans, where the U.S. has agreed to grant at least 20,000 annual visas. Some advocates estimate that the number of Haitians could be as many as 5,000 in the first year.
It is important to note that in no way is this action a green light for Haitians to take to the sea on poorly constructed boats to reach the shores of Florida. “Such individuals will not qualify for the HFRP program and if located at sea may be returned to Haiti,” per Alejandro Mayorkas, the deputy secretary of Homeland Security.