NEW YORK, United States (CMC)— Caribbean American Congresswoman, Yvette D Clarke, has called on the Joe Biden administration in the United States to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to people evacuated from the Red Zone in St Vincent and the Grenadines, where the La Soufrière volcano has been erupting for more than a week.

Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who represents the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, first raised the issue on Saturday after visiting a volcano relief centre, at the Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center in Brooklyn, run by the Brooklyn-based SVG Relief Committee, Inc.

She later told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) “I am calling on the US State Department to immediately allocate an appropriate level of funding to support our neighbour’s rescue, recovery and rehabilitation, and I am calling on Secretary (of Homeland Security Alejandro) Mayorkas to designate TPS status for the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines and neighbouring islands that are located within the red zone”.

Clarke, who chairs both the US Congressional Caribbean Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus Taskforce on Immigration, noted that since April 9, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and neighbouring islands, have been severely affected by the eruptions of La Soufrière volcano.

Clarke, who is also a senior member of the US House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Committee on Homeland Security, said that more than 20,000 people have been evacuated from their homes since La Soufrière volcano began erupting.

She said that many of the displaced people are now living in less than 100 shelters “that do not have the means to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing measures”.

The US legislator said crops, including coconut, breadfruit, mango and sour sop trees, plantain and banana crops, which comprise much of the island’s agricultural economy, outside of tourism, have been destroyed.

She said access to clean water has risen to priority one, as St Vincent and the Grenadines’ main water supplies “have been contaminated”.

Clarke also noted that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that the volcano’s eruption had left the entire population of St Vincent, 110,000 people, “without clean drinking water or electricity.

“With all of this in mind, I have written a letter to Secretary Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security urging him to assign Temporary Protected Status for St Vincent, the Grenadines and neighbouring island migrants within the red zone,” she said.

“These island-nations have direct ties with the United States, and many have familial ties within the Vincentian-American Diaspora community of my district that will prevent any temporary relocation from becoming a stress on our economy. The US must comply with international legal obligations and allow all migrants access to the asylum system.

“As DHS (Department of Homeland Security) processes this request, I urge Secretary Mayorkas to consider the plight of our neighbours in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the neighbouring islands, living through this extraordinary environmental disaster while facing a pandemic, the likes of which our global community has never seen,” Clarke said.

TPS is a temporary status given to eligible nationals of designated countries present in the United States. This status, afforded to residents from some countries affected by armed conflict, or natural disaster, allows people to live and work in the United States for limited times.

Clarke said the US Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a foreign country for TPS if conditions in the country meet statutory requirements regarding ongoing armed conflict, natural disasters (including epidemics), or other extraordinary and temporary conditions in the country that temporarily prevent its nationals from returning safely.

“The Secretary of Homeland Security has the discretion to designate a country for TPS for periods of six to 18 months and can extend these periods if the country continues to meet the conditions for designation,” she said.

“The volcanic devastation of St Vincent and the Grenadines requires an urgent humanitarian response from our US government, and the anaemic response of our State Department and affiliate USAID (United States Agency for International Development) causes me great concern,” she added. “This is a humanitarian crisis that has not been adequately addressed by the US State Department or any other international aid organization.”

In fact, Clarke said the United States has only allocated about US$100,000 to address this emergent crisis, and USAID has only allocated US$20,000.

“This funding is, simply put, a symbolic gesture and merely scratches the surface of the Vincentian people’s needs and does little to combat the catastrophic disaster that continues to unfold.

“It falls woefully short of our humanitarian capacity. It does not, in any way, truly reflect what we as a nation are capable of; the magnitude of this crisis requires more. It requires focused, competent humanitarian assistance commensurate with the crisis faced by the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines.”

The World Bank has disbursed US$20 million to support the government’s response to the crisis and the Office of United Nations Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean said last Friday that the UN has provided one million US dollars from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to assist St Vincent and the Grenadines.

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ New York Consul General, Howie Prince, welcomed Clarke’s call for TPS for Vincentians in the red zone, telling CMC that “Protected Status is a very serious consideration.

“If the US decides to give TPS, it would be accepted,” said Prince, who joined his compatriots over the weekend in a massive relief drive.

“They seem genuine in their outreach, and I hope that their advocacy bears fruit,” he added.