Last week the Washington Post reported of the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to cancel the temporary protected status of those from Sierra Leone.  The decision called those under the protected status who had not obtained U.S. citizenship to return to Sierra Leone by May 3, 2004. 

Citizens of the West African Nation, which was plagued by a ten year civil war that ended in 2002, were granted the temporary protected or ‘special’ status that allowed them to access driver’s licenses, property and work during their stay in the United States.  The one year protected status for the Sierra Leoneans was first issued in 1997 and subsequently extended five times during the Clinton and Bush administration until the civil war ended. 

Critics of the May 3 return date are claiming that Sierra Leone is still an unsafe country, with its conditions still reflecting the affects of the brutal civil war.  Such critics included the Friends of Sierra Leone, the nonprofit organization established by former volunteers of the Peace Corps.  The organization is lobbying for an extension to the temporary protected status under the fact that Sierra Leone’s conditions of corruption and torture are unsafe for its citizens. 

The law for temporary protected status, which was passed by Congress in 1990, stipulated that the status would apply to those aliens enduring armed conflict, environmental disaster or extraordinary circumstances.  Furthermore, the president has the power, on top of Congress, to extend the temporary workers status if the conditions of the country are still threatening. 

Those aliens who would return to Sierra Leone today claim that the conditions of the country bordered by the other troubled state of Liberia are still far from safe.  Though the brutal civil war ended in 2002, acts that were common place during the war, such as rebels killing and burning people in their homes, amputating limbs with machetes and forcing hands into boiling water are still taking place against its citizens. 

As for those under the former protected status, fear of deportation back to Sierra Leone has lead some to stay in their homes and not answer the doors.  Others have found that their recent change in status has resulted in job loss and denial.  Some, such as journalist Paul Barrow, have even been seized from their homes and forced into deportation back to Sierra Leone.