Presidents from both parties had previously extended, without controversy, protections for Liberians who had fled two brutal civil wars—until now. This week, the Trump administration ordered Liberian Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients to prepare for deportation within one year, claiming that Liberia is “no longer experiencing armed conflict” and has made “significant progress in restoring stability and democratic governance.” In reality, the rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and now the termination of DED are planks in this mass deportation platform:
In the nine years that Nancy Harris has taught pre-school at a predominantly white Methodist church in Birmingham, Alabama, she has jumpstarted the literacy of hundreds of children. The parents and larger church community have come to love and rely on Harris, whom the children playfully call “Ms. Fancy.” But until recently, they never really knew much about her background as a Liberian immigrant. The mother of three had to inform her community that she may be forced to leave the United States soon because of what may be another attack on immigrant communities by the Trump administration: the end of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians.
The authority to renew DED—“an immigration program authorized under the president’s constitutional discretion to conduct foreign affairs,” according to immigrant rights group America’s Voice—was in Trump’s hands. “In 2007, President George W. Bush terminated TPS for Liberia,” the group notes, “but allowed recipients to apply for DED, which since then has been extended roughly every 18 months. President Obama twice continued the DED program through March 31, 2018.” Program recipients and advocates say that Liberia, still recovering from civil war and wracked by Ebola as recently as 2014, is not prepared to take them back.
Numbers vary on how many Liberian DED recipients there are in the U.S. It could be anywhere from 838, to possibly 4,200. What is known is that they are “among the most checked, vetted, secure populations of immigrants in this country,” and that the federal government is saying there’s no room for 838 or 4,200 people who have already been living here, with the government’s permission, for years. “Shame on the administration,” said Patrice Lawrence of the UndocuBlack Network. “Let’s be clear: this decision was a show of heart by the Trump Administration. To ask people who have been here since the late 1990s to leave is harsh, cruel, and disgusting. “
Beginning at the end of last year and continuing through this year, the Trump administration also announced the end of TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of recipients from nations like El Salvador, Haiti, and Sudan. Salvadoran TPS recipients are a part of the 100,000 TPS recipients who are homeowners and have lived in the country for two decades or more, according to the American Immigration Council. Like DED recipients, these are immigrants with deep roots here and with no way to adjust their status so they can stay, and both TPS and DED recipients say conditions are dire in their home countries.
In Liberia, “there’s not even enough money to pay government workers,” said Abena Abraham of the Minnesota Black Immigrant Collective. “Civilians are just living on a prayer. Infrastructure is not well developed and destructive fires have recently broken out as a result of dense populations. Liberia is also in a food crisis and many people depend solely on eggs for protein. On top of all this, the conversion rate is currently $136 Liberian dollars to one U.S. dollar so even everyday needs are quite expensive. Going back to Liberia is a huge concern because these communities will be returning back to these situations.”
One worried DED holder is Caroline Grimes. Several years ago she decided to go back to school—“I didn’t even have access to financial aid,” she said—and achieved her goal of becoming a nurse. Today, she’s raising her two kids, healing others, and contributing to her community. Additionally, like many TPS recipients and undocumented immigrants, some of the wages she earns here go to help loved ones in Liberia. But everything she’s now worked for could be up in the air.
“To see that Liberians in the United States have stabilized their lives—and I think that’s part of the American Dream and the pursuit of happiness—and still uproot us and send us back to Liberia will force us to become refugees all over again,” she said during an America’s Voice press call. “We must let Donald Trump know that this decision is unacceptable, and to give us a year to go get ready to go back to nothing is disheartening and inhumane.”