US posts guidelines for Haitian immigrants

Originally published by The Washington Post

The Latest on Haitians in the U.S. who face employment and travel hurdles because of government delays in the process of renewing immigration documents under a program that ends next year (all times local):

12:45 p.m.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released details about the next steps for about 60,000 Haitians to renew immigration benefits under a program the Trump administration is ending next year.

Haitian activists are concerned the federal government’s notice was unusually delayed and only posted four days before their work authorization expires, causing problems with employment, travel and immigrants’ dealings with other agencies.

The administration’s guidelines acknowledge that “not all re-registrants” will receive the work authorization cards before their current ones expire. Immigration officials say they didn’t release details about the process sooner because they had to work out the work authorization language, among other things.
Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman Sharon Scheidhauer says Thursday’s announcement automatically extends the work permits for Haitians on temporary protected status through July.

9 a.m.

Haitian community leaders say thousands of Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. legally will face employment and travel hurdles because President Donald Trump’s administration has delayed the process of re-registering those with temporary protected status.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the agency will release details Thursday about the next steps for the 60,000 Haitians with the special status.

But immigrants and advocates say the information comes too late to help the thousands of Haitians who hold immigration documents that show their legal and work status expiring Monday.

Geralde Gabeau is a Haitian American who heads the Boston-based nonprofit Immigrant Family Services Institute. Gabeau sees the bureaucratic slowdown as a reflection of the vulgar comments Trump made last week against immigrants from Haiti and Africa.

Read more:https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-latest-us-posts-guidelines-for-haitian-immigrants/2018/01/18/e8165b1a-fc78-11e7-9b5d-bbf0da31214d_story.html?utm_term=.320894ffa985