Letter to the Hon. Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, and the Hon. John Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security - Menendez, Nelson Lead Call Demanding Renewal of Haitian TPS

Letter

Dear Secretaries Tillerson and Kelly:

In light of continued difficult conditions in Haiti, we request that you extend the existing

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain Haitian nationals currently living in the United States, which is set to expire on July 22, 2017. An extension is necessary to allow Haiti to fully recover from the damage of the January 2010 earthquake and October 2016 hurricane, and to provide security to Haitians living in the United States.

More than seven years after the devastating earthquake and resulting humanitarian crisis, Haiti has yet to recover. That natural disaster left the country shattered, as it caused over 200,000 deaths, injured over 300,000, displaced millions more, and caused an estimated $7.8 billion in damages. The ensuing cholera epidemic further complicated recovery efforts, as it killed over 10,000 people and sickened more than 800,000. Haiti's situation remains fragile, and the World Bank notes it is one of the poorest countries in the world and the poorest country in the Americas with a GDP per capita of $846 in 2014. Indeed, the United Nations will continue to have a presence in the country by replacing its peacekeeping operation with a successor operation: the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti.

Hurricane Matthew only compounded slow recovery efforts. The hurricane made landfall on the Western Coast of Haiti on October 4, 2016, and it brought sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, up to 25 inches in rainfall, and over 10 feet in storm surge. The storm affected 2.1 million people, including nearly 900,000 children, and 1.4 million people required humanitarian assistance. According to estimates by the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other partners studying the damage, the storm caused nearly $2 billion in damage; or roughly

22% of Haiti's GDP. The storm virtually guaranteed that Haiti's post-earthquake recovery will be extended for years to come.

Haiti is ill-equipped to handle the return of the roughly 50,000 Haitian nationals currently receiving TPS. TPS was created to offer temporary, humane protection to foreign nationals living in the U.S. when extraordinary conditions in their home country pose a serious threat to their personal safety. We welcomed the previous extension of TPS for Haitian nationals, and we believe the reports of widespread damage and destruction in Haiti make an extended TPS designation appropriate.

Given Haiti's many challenges, the United States' focus should be to prioritize disaster assistance and recovery, not to return Haitian nationals to a country lacking the capacity to support them. We ask that you take the urgent humanitarian situation into account when considering extending the TPS designation.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,