A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

• The United States Government should immediately review the Refugee Family Reunification
Program policy which renders entire family groups ineligible for resettlement when one
member is found not to have a DNA match to the rest of the group.
• The United States Government should amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to restore
discretion to immigration judges when considering the deportation of Liberians who are the
parents of U.S. citizen children so as to ensure that Liberians with United States citizen
children are not arbitrarily denied the protection of the family unit.
• The United States Government should reform U.S. immigration policies which have resulted
in lengthy backlogs for visas based on family relationships to expeditiously reunify family
members.
• The United States Government should design and fully fund tailored programming for “newly
reunified youth” (those young people who arrive in the United States on family reunification
visas after lengthy separations) and their families.
• The United States Government should support and expand training of social service
providers, such as educators, police, and courts, on issues related to family reunification for
Liberians.
Addressing the Legacy of Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
Because of the extended duration of the Liberian conflict and its aftermath, protection from
deportation from the United States was regularly extended from 1990 through 2009 through grants
of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). During this period
many Liberians were denied meaningful access to the asylum process due to the U.S. government’s
failure to adjudicate their claims in a timely manner. 465
• The United States Government should enact legislation pending in both the House (H.R.
2258) and Senate (S. 656) that would allow Liberians who are (or should be but for some
reason are not) registered under Temporary Protected Status/Deferred Enforced Departure
to apply for lawful permanent resident status.
• The United States Government should amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to restore
discretion to immigration judges when considering the deportation of Liberians who are the
parents of U.S. citizen children. The Child Citizen Protection Act (H.R. 182) would amend
the Immigration and Nationality Act in the case of an alien subject to removal, deportation,
or exclusion who is the parent of a U.S. citizen child, to authorize an immigration judge to
decline to order such removal if the judge determines that removal is against the child’s best
interests.
• The United States Government should enact immigration reform that includes legalization
for Liberians who have been in the United States for a prolonged period of time under
Temporary Protected Status/Deferred Enforced Departure or in undocumented status.
489
Chapter Fourteen