Ira Kurzban, Lead Immigration Attorney on Case,
Available for Interview (Contact: Liz@npstrategygroup.com)
As Geneva Sands’ ABC piece addresses, explosive new documents obtained through a FOIA request from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were released this week. The documents reveal that the Trump Administration knew the conditions in Haiti warranted an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) but chose to terminate the live-saving immigration program nonetheless.
In terminating TPS for 50,000 Haitians protected under TPS, the Administration went so far as to say: “Haiti has made significant progress in addressing issues specific to the earthquake.”
Yet, as Sands’ piece notes, this stands in stark contrast to the USCIS internal report:
The internal USCIS report said that “many of the conditions prompting the original January 2010 TPS designation persist, and the country remains vulnerable to external shocks and internal fragility.”
The memo, went on to conclude that “due to the conditions outlined in this report, Haiti’s recovery from the 2010 earthquake could be characterized as falling into what one nongovernmental organization recently described as “the country’s tragic pattern of ‘one step forward, two steps back.'”
Ira Kurzban is an American civil rights and immigration lawyer, and a member of the legal team who filed this FOIA request, successfully obtaining the documents. This week, Kurzban’s work together with the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild has revealed that there is more to the story than the Administration’s claims that conditions in Haiti had improved enough for TPS holders to return. He is available for comment on this development.
For interview requests, please contact Liz@npstrategygroup.com.
