PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) – Haiti and the United States on Wednesday worked on ironing out differences over temporary US visas held by nearly 60,000 Haitians.

President Jovenel Moise met with US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in the Haitian capital as the visa-holders face the possibility of losing their status by January.”We are not in a boxing match,” said Moise after the hour-long talks with Kelly.”The government understands very well that the US government and the Haitian government must come together to solve the migration issue we have,” he said at a press conference.The United States granted Temporary Protection Status (TPS) to many Haitian nationals after the January 12, 2010 earthquake.The mega-disaster killed more than 200,000 people, destroyed much of the capital Port-au-Prince and displaced a million and a half Haitians.TPS made it possible for Haitians in the United States to stay after their visas expired, and to work legally.While diaspora organisations and international NGOs sought an 18-month renewal, the US Department of Homeland Security gave only a six-month extension, calling on Haitian immigrants to “put their affairs in order.””It’s not meant to be an open-ended law but a temporary (one) and I elected to extend TPS for the country of Haiti by six months,” Kelly said.”It’s been seven years since the earthquake which was the reason TPS was granted, but I committed to the president and the government that we can work together as we go forward on any further extension.”US lawmakers and civil society organisations denounced this decision, arguing that eight months after Hurricane Matthew ravaged the southern half of Haiti, the Caribbean country is unable to receive the 58,700 nationals who still benefit from the visa.In a move to reduce global humanitarian aid, the Trump administration is also planning a nearly 18 percent reduction in the USAID 2018 budget for Haiti.