MIAMI, Florida (CMC)— A major Haitian immigration advocacy group here has welcomed the United States’ extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians until October 4, 2021.

Last week, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it was also extending TPS until the same time for beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan.

“This is wonderful news” said Marleine Bastien, the Haitian-born Executive Director of Family Action Network Movement (FANM). “Folks have been frantic and restless worrying about the January deadline.

“TPS holders and their families can rest easier after months of anguish,” she added.

But Bastien said, while her organisation and Haitian TPS beneficiaries are relieved by the US government’s decision, “TPS recipients need permanent and not temporary protection.

“FANM will continue to organise our members and fight for those in the (US) Senate to pass The Dream and Promise Act,” she said. “We will not stop until we have a path to permanent residency for all TPS holders.

“We urge the Senate to act promptly to find a permanent solution for all TPS recipients and their families,” Bastien added.

Through the notice in the Federal Register, the daily Journal of the United States Government, DHS said it was taking actions “to ensure its continued compliance with the preliminary injunction orders” of a number of US district courts.

Several immigrant advocacy groups had filed lawsuits in district courts challenging the Trump administration’s decision to terminate TPS for nationals from Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan.

The cases were heard in US District Court for the Northern District of California in Ramos, et al v Nielsen, et al, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Saget, et al, v Trump, et al.

The US District Court for the Northern District of California has issued an order to stay proceedings for the termination of TPS in Bhattarai v Nielsen.

DHS noted that a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction in Ramos on September 14.

However, because the appellate court has not issued its directive to the district court to make that ruling effective, DHS said “the injunction remains in place at this time.”

DHS said beneficiaries under the TPS designation for Haiti will retain their TPS while either of the preliminary injunctions in Ramos or Saget remain in effect, “provided that an alien’s (immigrant) TPS is not withdrawn because of individual ineligibility.”

Last month, a Haitian refugee group in New York urged the incoming Joe Biden administration in the United States to rescind President Donald J Trump’s “racist policies on immigration.”

The Brooklyn-based Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees’s Temporary Protected Status Committee told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that it was collaborating with the Haitian National TPS Alliance in holding Biden to his promise of reversing Trump’s immigration policies.

The Haitian National TPS alliance recently conducted a “Road to Justice” bus tour to Brooklyn in its continuing push to reverse Trump’s “draconian immigration policies.”

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned on a promise that, in the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration, they would reverse Trump’s discriminatory policies on immigration, including protecting TPS holders and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients, ending family separation and restoring asylum laws,” Ninaj Raoul, chair of the Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, told CMC.

“Now, we will go to Washington to fight for a permanent solution – permanent residency for all 400,000 TPS holders,” she added. “In January 2021, we are going to pressure the White House to demand that if they truly reject racism and the nationalist acts of the past administration, they must favour our community and approve a permanent residency now.

“We will continue to fight to approve permanent residency for more than 400,000 TPS recipients within the first 100 days of the next administration,” Raoul continued. “Once we do, we don’t expect to go home.

“We will remove the fragments of damage left behind by this (Trump’s) administration,” she said. “We must keep fighting until this country recognises the humanity of all immigrants.”

Raoul noted that the Trump administration has terminated TPS for 400,000 people from Haiti, El Salvador, Sudan, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras, and ended Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberia.

New York boasts of the second largest concentration of Haitians with TPS status in United States, with Florida having the largest.

FANM said Florida is home to over 50,000 TPS holders, with 35,000 from Haiti, 9, 000 from Honduras and 6,000 from El Salvador.

The Haitian immigration advocacy group also said over 275,000 US-born children in America have parents from Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal Sudan and El Salvador who have TPS status.