Catholics rally in support of Liberian immigrants (The Catholic Spirit)

Catholics rally in support of Liberian immigrants

BY JULIE CARROLL
THURSDAY, 12 MARCH 2009

Time is running out for Kirk patrick Weah and thousands of other Liberian immigrants who found temporary asylum in the United States during a decade-long civil war in the 1990s.

On March 31, many of the 3,600 Liberians living in the country under temporary protection status — some community leaders say the number is as high as 15,000 — face deportation unless President Barack Obama grants them an extension.

Some Catholics in Minnesota, which has one of the largest Li berian populations in the country, are among those advocating on their behalf.

Weah, a former political prisoner, testified against human rights violators in Liberia, including Chuckie Taylor, the son of former Liberian warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor. Last year, Chuckie Taylor was sentenced to 97 years in prison for war crimes. Weah said he fears for his and his children’s lives if he is forced to return to Liberia.

The 48-year-old Brooklyn Center man, who serves as executive director of the Liberian Human Rights and Refugee Welfare Organization, has called Minnesota home since he fled Liberia in 1998.

Weah’s ex-wife also faces deportation if an extension is not granted. Their sons, ages 10 and 5, are U.S. citizens.

“My oldest son, all the time he tells me that he doesn’t want to go to Liberia because the people there killed children during the war,” Weah said. “He tells me every day: ‘I’m not going to Liberia. This is my country.’”

Although the war has ended and a new democratically elected government has taken power in Liberia, running water and electricity are scarce, unemployment hovers around 80 percent, and the average life expectancy is about 40 years, according to the CIA World Factbook. The process of rebuilding the war-ravaged country is expected to take many years.

Temporary asylum

The United States has extended temporary protected status (temporary asylum issued to foreigners when civil unrest, violence or natural disasters threaten their safety) to Liberians since 1991, when armed conflict erupted in Liberia. Every year, Liberians on TPS were required to pay a fee to renew their status and work permission. Over the years, newly arriving Liberians also have been allowed to register for TPS.

In September 2006, the Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of Liberian TPS, effective Oct. 1, 2007.

On Sept. 12, 2007, President George W. Bush permitted Liberians registered under TPS to remain and work in the United States under an immigration status known as “deferred enforced departure” until March 31, 2009.

If a DED extension is not granted, deportation proceedings will begin immediately. Some Liberians may still be able to legally remain in the United States in another status or on a pending application for asylum or permanent resident status.

Michele Garnett McKenzie, director of advocacy for the Minneapolis-based organization The Advocates for Human Rights, said the Liberians were one of the first groups of nationals to receive temporary protective status when Congress passed it in 1990.

“It really just doesn’t make sense to have a temporary protected status or deferred departure that goes on for close to 20 years,” the attorney said. “That’s not temporary.”

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar have sponsored bills in the past to offer Liberians living under temporary protected status a chance to become U.S. citizens. But without an immediate extension, many Liberians will be forced to leave the country before any such legislation can be passed.

“For some, the only thing standing between them and an airplane is this DED status,” Garnett McKenzie said.

Grassroots support

Catholics and others in Minnesota have been sending letters to President Obama and rallying on behalf of the Liberians.

At St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center, where between 100 and 200 Liberians are parishioners, Father Pat Grile has spoken about the immigrants’ plight from the pulpit, according to parishioner Patrick Kugmeh, a Liberian immigrant who has U.S. citizenship.

The parish also hired an immigration lawyer to provide free legal counsel to Liberians and set up tables in the church so parishioners could sign petitions urging congressional leaders to act.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and their consociates also have been strong advocates for the Liberians. They are members of a grassroots coalition pushing for permanent residency for the Liberians.

“It seems very unjust to us that the United States would send these people back to a country that isn’t really able to receive them with any quality of life guaranteed,” said Sister of St. Joseph Virginia Webb.

On March 5, Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) gave a speech on the floor of the U.S. House calling for an extension of the deadline for Liberian immigrants living in the United States under deferred enforced departure.

“While progress has been made in stabilizing Liberia in recent years, it remains a nation still recovering from a civil war,” Paulsen said. “Many of the same fears and concerns that brought thousands of Liberians here in the first place have not been alleviated. Liberia is simply not ready to absorb the number of people who will be forced to leave the United States if this deadline is not extended.”

Meanwhile, Kirkpatrick Weah and other Liberian immigrants anxiously wait, their future uncertain, as the deadline for extension looms.

Weah still hasn’t decided if he’ll take his children, who have special needs, back to Liberia with him if he is deported, or if he will find someone to care for them in the United States in his and his ex-wife’s absence.

“That’s the difficult choice that I have to make, and I can’t really find a solution to it right now,” he said.