NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — The New York-based Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR) on Monday welcomed the Joe Biden administration’s decision to re-designate Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to over 100,000 undocumented Haitians living in the United States.

“Members of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees joined the National TPS Alliance in 2017 to protect TPS and vow to fight for a permanent solution for TPS holders from all countries that have been granted the status,” Ninaj Raoul, HWHR’s Executive Director, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“Our members will continue to push forward together with our allies from all countries granted TPS and their fellow dreamers who are DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients, until the passage of the Dream and Promise ACT, which will win permanent residency for all TPS holders and DACA recipients,” she added.

Last Saturday, the Biden administration announced a new 18-month designation of Haiti for TPS.

Secretary of US Homeland Security Alejandro N Mayorkas said that the new TPS designation enables Haitian nationals — and individuals without nationality who last resided in Haiti — currently residing in the United States, as of May 21, 2021, to file initial applications for TPS, “so long as they meet eligibility requirements.

“Haiti is currently experiencing serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty and lack of basic resources, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mayorkas said in a statement.

“After careful consideration, we determined that we must do what we can to support Haitian nationals in the United States until conditions in Haiti improve so they may safely return home,” he added.

Raoul noted that while on his campaign trail in 2020, Biden “made several promises to the Haitian community”.

She said that among them was “re-instating Temporary Protective Status for Haitian nationals living in the US, a status that was wrongfully terminated by the Trump administration”.

Raoul noted that TPS for Haitians was originally granted by the Obama administration in 2010, just days after the deadly earthquake, which devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010.

Roughly 250,000 lives were lost, and over one million people were displaced.

“The racially-motivated decision to end TPS for Haitians, and other countries granted the status, was challenged by litigation, where several different cases were filed in US district courts,” Raoul said.