“The impact of the DED status revocation starting next year is being felt here.”
Delaware County, PA – A piece in Delco News lays out the extent to which the Trump Administration’s decision last week to terminate Liberia’s Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) has forced Delaware County families and immigrants to live in a state of fear and anxiety, as they are now subject to deportation.
The piece in its entirety can be accessed here, and a few excerpted highlights follow:
“Some people are really afraid,” said Raya Fagg, director of the Upper Darby Welcome Center. “Some people hope that things will get better, but the majority of people are nervous.”
Fagg helps as many as 60 immigrants every month at the welcome center, providing resources that will help them obtain their citizenship including English Language Learner classes. Throughout the year she said she helps about 100 Liberians in eastern Delaware County communities.
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“The majority of people who come in here have decided that today is the day that they are going to make a change, a positive change in their life,” said Fagg. “They want to be more in-tuned with the American dream, the American way … I help guide them to the correct resources and the passion and the path that is unique to them.”
To take away a family, a home and a job that they have built up will be hard for the potential thousands of DED beneficiaries who may be forced to leave next year.
“They have homes and families and identities here and to take that all away within a year – that will be a challenge to adjust with,” said Fagg.
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“You come here, you do what you’re supposed to do and follow the rules, and you still don’t have a way to get the things that you would like to get (citizenship),” she said. “I think it’s unfair, sad. I think about the people I know in this community and how it would hurt their families.”
