Posted on 09/13/2007 3:22:20 PM PDT by RDTF
President Bush has granted a short-term reprieve for thousands of Liberians who have lived in the United States for as many as 16 years but would have been eligible for deportation on Oct. 1, the date their temporary residency permits were set to expire.
Citing "compelling foreign policy reasons," Bush on Wednesday ordered an 18-month stay of deportation for approximately 3,500 Liberians with Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, a category granted to people from certain countries recovering from natural disaster or armed conflict.
Since 1991, thousands of Liberians have been allowed to live and work in the United States under TPS while civil war devastated their west African nation, which was founded by freed U.S. slaves. The 14-year war ended in 2003, and last year the U.S. government judged Liberia stable and terminated the temporary permits.
That came as a shock to Liberians in the United States, many of whom had bought homes, started families and launched careers, and who dreaded the prospect of returning to a country where 85 percent of people are unemployed, infectious disease is epidemic and electricity and running water are scarce, according to a 2006 U.N. report.
Liberian community leaders said they were grateful for the decision and would use the next 18 months to push for permanent residency for holders of TPS. Leaders will be "more proactive" and encourage those affected to contact members of Congress, said Isaac Zawolo, National General Secretary of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I object! Even though I don’t like paying late fees — who will run the check out desk at the local library?
Please do NOT delay the deportation of liberals
No surprise, that’s the First Lady’s profession :-P
Why not? No one goes to the library anymore.
Liberians are refugees in the truest sense of the word.
So far the Bush deportation effort seems to be directed at everyone except the crotch grabbing Reconquista crowd.
I’ve hated them all since the first time I was shushed by one. Imperious bastards!.-Emily Litella
Funny to recall that Liberia was founded by ex-slaves who returned to Africa.
and wasn’t Monrovia? (named after Monroe?)
I suggest you check the story again. President Bush has delayed the deportation, not hastened it.
That's right. It's too crowded.
Oh man! For a second I read it as the deportation of liberals.
liberals and librarians LOL
LOL! I see I wasn't alone in my initial reading.
Liberians are just Americans, once removed.........
Keep the Liberians and deport the liberals. Unless there are Liberian liberals among them and then just deport them too.
Must be hoping to gain a “surge” in voter approval and obtain the votes of another group of illegals.
Someday, I really hope that he tunes into the mood of the American people about illegals.
You are correct. This is just a cynical ploy by the Bush 2008 campaign.
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