A cliff is coming, and the next Congress better be ready to clean up the mess created by Trump and his DHS.
Yesterday, the Trump Administration announced it would terminate Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians, a move that will, over time, subject thousands of Liberian immigrants to deportation. DED allows recipients to obtain a work permit and travel out of the country if they have advanced permission, but provides no path to legal status or citizenship.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
With termination of Liberian DED, Trump continues to feed the mass deportation beast.
Let’s be clear. Trump and his sidekick, DHS Secretary Nielsen, are intent on driving millions of immigrants out of the country. When it comes to putting immigrants on a path to deportation, it doesn’t seem to matter how long they’ve been here, the conditions they fled in the first place, the contributions they have made or the impact on their families, employers and communities, or the fact that they’ve had legal status for years and years. The bottom line seems to be this: get ready to get out; this is especially true if you are from what the President calls “shithole countries.”
In early 2019 the new Congress will have a full plate of immigration-related challenges. To date, Trump’s DHS has ended DACA for Dreamers, TPS for Salvadorans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Sudanese, and DED for Liberians. More such decisions are expected. It is highly probable that, given the termination of grace periods and the likely conclusion of litigation, these issues will come to a head as the new Congress gets sworn in. A cliff is coming, and the next Congress better be ready to clean up the mess created by Trump and his DHS.
