The U.S. government has extended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Haiti for 18 months, citing «extraordinary and temporary» conditions in the Caribbean country.
This has been informed in a statement by the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, who has detailed that the end of the program will pass from February 4, 2023 to August 3, 2024.
The measure allows Haitian nationals residing in the United States to apply for Temporary Protected Status until August 3, 2024, provided they meet all eligibility requirements.
Those who are not eligible include those who decide to travel to the U.S. now, since the program is focused on Haitians already living on U.S. soil.
«We are providing much-needed humanitarian assistance to Haitian nationals already in the United States,» Mayorkas said, adding that conditions in Haiti, including socioeconomic challenges, political instability and gang violence and crime, compounded by the environmental disaster, «compel the humanitarian assistance we are providing today.»
The decision comes after the Security Secretary consulted with his interagency partners on the «extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti,» including a prolonged political crisis, severe insecurity and gang crime — which would have worsened a «dire economic situation» — lack of access to food, water, fuel and medical care during a resurgence of cholera, as well as the recent «catastrophic earthquakes.
