PRESIDENT CLINTON EXTENDS TEMPORARY AMNESTY FOR LIBERIANS

Last month we reported that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Liberians in the US would not be extended again after it expires at the end of September. However, this is no longer true, as President Clinton has reversed the Attorney General’s decision, and will extend the period of temporary amnesty again, while the country continues to recover from a civil war.

In the statement announcing the President’s decision, he acknowledged that conditions in Liberia no longer warranted an extension of TPS, but found other compelling reasons against returning Liberians to their native country.  The primary reason is the possibility that if the US were to repatriate Liberians, other countries in West Africa might begin returning Liberians.  An influx of this many people would disrupt the fragile peaceful conditions in Liberia.  For this reason President Clinton exercised his authority to conduct foreign relations, and ordered the Attorney General to defer deportation of Liberians for one more year.

Liberians in the US were first granted TPS in 1991, two years after the civil war began. Since then, the protection has been extended each year.  After the recent news that TPS would be withdrawn, many Liberians and politicians protested the decision, arguing that even though the civil war was over, conditions in the country were not sufficiently stable to force people to return.  The civil war lasted from 1989 to 1997, killed over 200,000 people, and forced over half the country’s population to flee. There are about 10,000 to 15,000 Liberians in the US covered by TPS.

Nationals of no other country have had TPS for as long as the Liberians.  This is primarily because when other countries have undergone wars of the duration of the Liberian civil war, the US passed legislation allowing those with TPS to apply for permanent residence in the US. This happened for many Central Americans fleeing the civil wars of the 1980s when the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act was passed. Despite the efforts of many congressmen, no such legislation has been passed for Liberians. Legislation to grant Liberians present in the US under TPS permanent residence is pending in the House.

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