Georgetown Law & UBN Life on Hold

Life On Hold: Black Immigrants & the Promise of Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness

The Georgetown University Law Center Federal Legislation Clinic & The UndocuBlack Network

About the Authors GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, FEDERAL LEGISLATION CLINIC The Federal Legislation Clinic (FLC) at Georgetown University Law Center instructs law students in the practical aspects of legislative lawyering. For more than twenty-five years, the FLC has offered experiential opportunities for students to learn the unique skills associated with being a lawyer who practices at the intersection of law, advocacy, and politics. While focusing on federal legislation, the FLC also works in areas of state and local legislation that implicate federal law. THE UNDOCUBLACK NETWORK The UndocuBlack Network (UBN), founded in 2016, is a multigenerational network of currently and formerly undocumented Black people that fosters community, facilitates access to resources, and contributes to transforming the realities of our people so we are thriving and living our fullest lives. UBN has chapters in New York City, the Washington, D.C./Maryland/Virginia area, and Los Angeles, California. Acknowledgments We extend our deep appreciation to FLC Director Cori Alonso-Yoder and Supervising Attorney Joel Wiginton for providing insightful feedback during the drafting process and for facilitating the fruitful partnership between UBN and the FLC. We would like to thank UBN Co-Executive Directors Patrice Lawrence and Gabrielle Jackson for encouraging and supporting this partnership and the resulting report. We recognize and thank each of the students in the Federal Legislation Clinic who co-authored this report: Gabriel Acosta, Kristin Ewing, Alka Paturi, and Aaron Yemane. We recognize and thank UBN’s policy and advocacy legal team, consisting of Haddy Gassama, Esq. and Breanne J. Palmer, Esq. We also recognize and thank the foundational work of Dr. Tatiana Benjamin, without whose research this report would not be possible. We extend our gratitude to African Communities Together, a longtime UndocuBlack Network partner and a leader in the fight for LRIF. We thank the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law as another longtime partner in the legal fight to equitably implement LRIF. Most importantly, we want to thank the members of the UndocuBlack Network who shared their testimonies and stories of their lived immigration experiences with us. These contributions are quoted throughout the report and bring to life the urgency of the issues discussed therein.

© June 2021 Georgetown University Law Center Federal Legislation Clinic and UndocuBlack Network. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION

2 3 3 4 4 4 5 7 7 9

PART I: A SNAPSHOT OF THE BLACK IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE Brief Introduction to the Black Immigrant Experience Black Immigrants: Targeted, Harmed, Erased, and Ignored

Racism and Anti-Blackness in the United States

Criminalization of Black Immigrants

How Selected Immigration Laws and Policies Affect Black Immigrants Temporary Forms of Relief for Black Immigrants: DACA, TPS, & DED

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Temporary Protected Status Deferred Enforced Departure

10 11 12 12 13 13 16 16 17 18 19 19 19 20 20 20 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 24 26 26 27 27 28 31

CONCLUSION

PART II: LIBERIAN REFUGEE IMMIGRATION FAIRNESS (LRIF) Tracing Temporary Status for Liberians in the United States

A Brief History of Liberia

Intertwining Grants of TPS and DED for Liberia

LRIF: A Historic Comprehensive, Permanent Form of Relief

History of the Passage of LRIF The Enduring Significance of LRIF

LRIF’s Opportunities

LRIF’s Obstacles

Failure to Conduct Necessary Outreach Failure to Publish Timely Policy Guidance

Failure to Account for Logistical Hurdles, COVID-19, and New Requirements

Failure to Adhere to Statutory Intent Inconsistent Fee Waiver Grants

Failure to Recognize and Act On Low Application Rates

CONCLUSION

PART III: MOVING FORWARD

Immigration Policies and Legislation on the Horizon

The Dream and Promise Act of 2021 - H.R. 6

Recent Immigration Litigation

DACA Litigation TPS Litigation

Recommendations for Improving TPS, DED, and LRIF

Recommendations for Improving TPS Recommendations for Improving DED

Recommendations for Improving LRIF: Executive Action Recommendations for Improving LRIF: Legislative Action

APPENDIX

INTRODUCTION “With few exceptions, the lived experience of Black immigrants very much mirrors the experience of Black American citizens. They encounter anti-Black discrimination and racial prejudice because of the color of their skin. Similar to American-born Black people, they are often subject to the same risks of poverty, lack of access to quality health care or affordable housing, over-policing and increased incarceration.” 1 This report intends to provide those interested and invested in the livelihoods of Black immigrants with knowledge and advocacy tools. The report begins with a broad discussion of the Black immigrant experience in the United States, along with descriptions of selected, contemporary immigration laws viewed through the Black immigrant lens. The report continues with a deep dive into the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness program, the first U.S. immigration legalization program to be enacted in decades, and the program’s opportunities and obstacles. The report ends with informed recommendations for various government agencies to improve the administration of existing immigration programs and to provide justice to Black immigrants affected by such programs. This report is guided by Black immigrant stories and testimonies, which means the report purposefully uplifts the voices and experiences of UBN members. The report includes quotes from UBN members throughout. Although the authors may not necessarily endorse all of the content or the language used in each quote, the report includes them in original form because they paint a holistic picture of the stories and visions of Black immigrants. For confidentiality reasons, the report declines to use most personal identifiers and only refers to participants by their initials and location.

1 Joan F. Neal, Being Black and Immigrant in America, Ctr. for Migration Studies (Aug. 3, 2020), https://cmsny.org/being-Black-and- immigrant-in-america/#_ftn1.

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PART I: A SNAPSHOT OF THE BLACK IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

Black immigrants in the United States experience unique harms while navigating the inherent cruelty of the U.S. immigration system. The complex and often overlooked history of Black people’s presence in the United States, along with systemic, anti-Black racism, are factors that impact the Black immigrant experience in the United States. Anti-Blackness sits at the core of all systems of criminal and civil law enforcement in the United States. Slave patrols made up of vigilante white men, deputized to hunt enslaved Black people escaping the horrors of chattel slavery, are the inception of what is known as American policing. The slave patrols’ white supremacist agenda still exists within modern frameworks of policing and immigration enforcement. As such, Black people of all immigration statuses in the United States are disproportionately criminalized and penalized by criminal and civil law enforcement. The targeting of Black immigrants by various law enforcement bodies results in inequitable deportation rates based on criminal charges. Black immigrants face anti-Black racism simultaneously with anti-immigrant policies and sentiments. At the intersection of Blackness and immigrant status, Black immigrants are fighting for just and transformative immigration policies. While the experience of every Black immigrant is unique, this report seeks to highlight some of the systemic trends, challenges, and victories that mark the collective experience of Black immigrants in the United States. Brief Introduction to the Black Immigrant Experience Modern Black migration to the United States has seen rapid growth in the last twenty years. 2 The Black immigrant population today is more than five times larger than it was in 1980, and since 2000 there has been a 71% increase in the number of Black immigrants living in the United States. 3 While a large portion of the growth in the last twenty years has been from African migration (Africans are 39% of the foreign- born Black population), almost half of all foreign-born Black people in the United States are from the Caribbean, with Haiti and Jamaica being the top two countries of origin. As of 2020, immigrants are 10% of the Black population living in the United States. 4 Notably, the 1965 Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) paved the way for the creation of American immigration laws not based not on race or ethnicity; previously, U.S. immigration laws explicitly sought to keep immigration as white as possible. 5 After the 1965 law, which coincided with major civil rights legislation and the broader Civil Rights Movement of the1960s and 1970s, the United States saw a major uptick in immigration from more diverse countries across the world, including majority-Black countries. 6 2 Monica Anderson & Gustavo Lopez, Key facts about black immigrants in the U.S. , Pew Research Ctr., (Jan. 24, 2018), http://pewrsr.ch/2E2rH4N. 3 Id. 4 What Does it Mean to Be a Black Immigrant in the United States? , The Immi gration Learning Ctr. (June 19, 2020), https:// www.ilctr.org/what-does-it-mean-to-be-black-immigrant-united-states/. 5 Muzaffar Chishti, et. al., Fifty Years On, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act Continues to Reshape the United States , Migration Pol ’y Inst. (Oct. 15, 2015), https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/fifty-years-1965-immigration-and-nationality-act- continues-reshape-united-states. 6 Id.

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Black Immigrants: Targeted, Harmed, Erased, and Ignored Racism and Anti-Blackness in the United States

Racism and anti-Blackness in the United States predate the country’s founding, beginning with the colonization and slaughter of indigenous persons living on the continent, followed by centuries of enslavement of Black people who had been kidnapped and transported from their homes. Black people have been present in the United States since prior to 1776, but the United States is commonly and culturally considered to be a country exclusively founded for and by white people. U.S. white supremacy operates fluidly through time. It has been adapted throughout the centuries to fit contemporary conditions while always maintaining a strict racial hierarchy where whiteness is considered to be the apex of the country’s race-based caste system. Criminalization of Black Immigrants Black immigrants face unique challenges, mirroring those faced by Black Americans: Because of their Blackness, Black immigrants are disproportionately racially profiled, stopped, and arrested by law enforcement agencies of all kinds. Black immigrants are targeted and penalized by both criminal and immigration law enforcement, leading to a double punishment and a life in the crosshairs of racist policing and immigration practices. 7 For example, Black Caribbean immigrants are twice as likely as other immigrants to be detained due to an immigration violation. 8 Black immigrants are also more likely than immigrants of other racial groups to be deported due to an underlying criminal conviction. 9 This “intersection of vulnerability,” 11 as Jodi Ziesemer, Director of the Immigrant Protection Unit at the New York Legal Assistance Group calls it, is responsible for Black immigrants facing greater legal obstacles than their non-Black immigrant counterparts. The rise in enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other government agencies against immigrants dovetails with imposed poverty and structural biases constructed against Black people in the United States, leading to outsize impacts on many Black immigrants. Furthermore, Black immigrants and their experiences are often willfully erased from discussions about immigration and the criminalization of immigrants. Racialized domestic criminal laws result in dire immigration consequences for many undocumented Black people in the United States. These phenomena make up a complex, cruel legal system within which many Black immigrants find themselves entrapped. 7 Peniel Ibe, Immigration is a Black Issue, American Friend Serv. Comm. (Feb. 18, 2021), https://www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and- commentary/immigration-black-issue. 8 Breanne J. Palmer, Note, The Crossroads: Being Black, Immigrant, and Undocumented in the Era of #Blacklivesmatter, 9 Geo. J. L. & Mod. Critical Race Persp. 99, 102 (2017). 9 Id. 10 Shamira Ibrahim, Ousman Darboe could be deported any day. His story is a common one for black immigrants, Vox (Feb. 5, 2020, 11:58 PM), https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/30/20875821/black-immigrants-school-prison-deportation-pipeline. 11 Id. An overwhelming 76% of Black immigrants are deported on criminal grounds, compared to only 45% of immigrants of all races. 10

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How Selected Immigration Laws and Policies Affect Black Immigrants Immigrants face many roadblocks to entry into the United States, and several disproportionately impact Black people or are specifically targeted at majority-Black countries and their citizens. Unlike more highly publicized Black immigration issues such as the Muslim and African Travel Bans 12 and the current use of Title 42 at the Southern border, this section highlights lesser-known immigration provisions with outsize impacts on Black immigrants. 13 Three and Ten Year Bars to Reentry The three-year and ten-year bars to reentry to the United States came about as part of immigration reform legislation known as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996. 14 IIRIRA was a turning point in immigration law and policy, as it equated immigration enforcement with crime control and further criminalized undocumented immigration. 15 IIRIRA created bars to reentering the United States for immigrants who, through various circumstances (such as overstaying a nonimmigrant visa), may accrue unlawful presence in the United States and then leave the country, often in an attempt to reenter lawfully. 16 If someone has been in the country unlawfully for more than 180 days but less than one year, they are barred from reentry to the United States for three years. If their unlawful presence in the United States is more than one year, the bar to reentry is ten years. 17 For many immigrants who may qualify for a green card through the family-based immigration system (for example, having relatives who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents), the law presents a double bind: deciding between staying in the United States without legal status and accruing more unlawful presence, or leaving the United States to eventually gain lawful status, but being barred from reentry for three years or a decade. 18 These bars put Black immigrants who may overstay their visas in a particular type of quandary, resulting in either living a life in constant fear of removal or facing separation from family and other loved Section 243(d) of the INA gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to invoke visa sanctions against foreign countries it classifies as “recalcitrant.” This determination is based on factors such as hindering removal efforts by ICE, denying or delaying issuing travel documents for deportees, or refusing to allow chartered removal flights into the country of removal. 19 The visa sanctions are determined on a country-by-country basis by the Department of State after it has been notified by DHS of recalcitrant 12 Proclamation on Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to The United States, WhiteHouse.gov (Jan. 20, 2021), https://www.whitehouse. gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/proclamation-ending-discriminatory-bans-on-entry-to-the-united-states/. 13 Nicole Phillips & Tom Ricker, The Invisible Wall: Title 42 and its Impact on Haitian Migrants, Quixote Ctr. et. al. (Mar. 2021), https://www.quixote.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Invisible-Wall.pdf. 14 8 USC §1182(a)(9)(B)(i). 15 Patrisia Macías-Rojas, Immigration and the War on Crime: Law and Order Politics and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, 6 J. on Migration & Human Security 1, 25 (2018), https://journals.sagepub.com/ doi/10.1177/233150241800600101. 16 The Three- and Ten-Year Bars How New Rules Expand Eligibility for Waivers, Am. Immigration Council (Oct. 2016) https://www. americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/research/three_and_ten_year_bars.pdf. 17 8 USC §1182(a)(9)(B)(i), See Unlawful Presence and Bars to Admissibility, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.uscis. gov/laws-and-policy/other-resources/unlawful-presence-and-bars-to-admissibility (last visited May 4, 2021). 18 Id. 19 Visa Sanctions Against Multiple Countries Pursuant to Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.ice.gov/remove/visa-sanctions (last visited May 4, 2021). ones after spending many years living in the United States. Punitive Visa Sanctions Against Black Countries

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countries, and the sanctions can include suspending the granting of visas from tourist visas for governmental officials to the full suspension of visas for immigrant and nonimmigrant applicants. 20 The determination of the recalcitrant classification and the level of visa sanctions are both subjective and can be arbitrary or unnecessarily punitive to certain countries based on enduring racism and xenophobia as well as shifting political agendas. Asian and African countries typically make up the bulk of countries that are sanctioned or threatened with visa sanctions. The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Cameroon, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Algeria, Eritrea, and Egypt have all been punished with harsh visa sanctions. 21 The visa sanction regime is considered by some advocates to have laid the logistical groundwork for the Trump Administration’s Muslim and African Travel Bans, discussed below. New Diversity Visa Rules The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered by the Department of State and is a lottery program that makes approximately 50,000 immigrant visas available annually to randomly selected individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. 22 Those selected for visas must meet educational or work experience requirements to qualify. 23 However, The Trump Administration instituted a new rule in the summer of 2019 that requires a current, unexpired passport in order to apply for a Diversity Visa and automatically disqualifies applicants whose applications contain errors or missing information, no matter how inadvertent they may be. 24 Although these new rules were touted as a deterrent against fraud, ultimately they put more barriers, financial and procedural, between immigrants and a pathway to permanent residency. Typically, at least 22,000 of the Diversity Visas are granted to Africans, so these changes negatively impact a large number of potential Black immigrants. Unlike the Trump Administration, which had announced plans to terminate the Diversity Visa program, the Biden Administration has announced it would like to expand the program to 80,000 visas a year. 25 While an increase in visa allocation is positive, unless changes are made to the rules, there are still significant hurdles for those who are applying. And without a United States-based eligible family member or an employer to sponsor a visa, there are very few alternative opportunities for permanent, legal immigration to the United States. 26 20 Jill H. Wilson, Immigration: “Recalcitrant” Countries and the Use of Visa Sanctions to Encourage Cooperation with Alien Removals, Cong. Res. Serv. (IF11025) (2020). 21 Id. 22 Green Card Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.uscis.gov/green- card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-through-the-diversity-immigrant-visa-program (last visited May 4, 2021). 23 Diversity Visa Program: Confirm Your Qualifications, U.S. Dep’t of State - Bureau of Consular Affairs, https://travel.state.gov/ content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-if-you-are-selected/diversity-visa-confirm-your- qualifications.html (last visited May 4, 2021). 24 Hillary Marston, New Diversity Visa Requirements Impose Major Obstacles for Applicants, Am. Immigration Council (June 13, 2019), https://immigrationimpact.com/2019/06/13/new-diversity-visa-requirements/#.YFnt1xNKjOR. 25 Jens Manuel Krogstad & Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, Key facts about U.S. immigration policies and Biden’s proposed changes, Pew Research Ctr. (Mar. 22, 2021) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/03/22/key-facts-about-u-s-immigration-policies-and-bidens- proposed-changes/. 26 FAQs on Diversity Visas, UndocuBlack Network, https://undocublack.org/diversity (last visited May 4, 2021).

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” “ The diversity visa lottery program was designed to ensure that the United States remains a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-faith nation for the benefit of us all. The program has provided an opportunity to immigrants who have historically been discriminated against in their pursuit of the American Dream, due in largepart to immigration laws that prohibited their participation. - Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY)27 Temporary Forms of Relief for Black Immigrants: DACA, TPS, & DED In addition to being refugees, asylum seekers, or recipients of certain types of visas, Black immigrants also qualify for other types of temporary relief from removal, such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). Black immigrants with these types of temporary statuses are forced to live in limbo, building a life in the United States that may be uprooted at any time at the whims of changing administrations. Members of Black immigrant communities who hold these temporary forms of relief are held hostage by a system that could hurl them back to dangerous and unfamiliar conditions, based on the outcome of litigation or a change in an administration’s priorities. Black immigrants who have DACA, TPS, or DED are essentially holding their breaths between intervals of renewal and redesignation. Only with a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship can they finally take a collective sigh of relief. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Brief Overview of DACA DACA stems from an executive action issued in 2012 under the Obama Administration, which allows certain people who came to the United States as children to qualify for deferred action for a period of two years and the opportunity to work legally. 28 Deferred action refers to deferring the removal of an individual for a specific period of time. 29 DACA lives within DHS’s prosecutorial discretion and does not provide any legal status to the beneficiary. 30 DACA recipients must renew their status every two years in order to avoid being removed from the country. There are specific, stringent criteria 31 that all applicants must meet to qualify for DACA initially and upon subsequent renewal. These requirements are often difficult for Black immigrants to meet due to systemic racism and fewer educational and employment opportunities. Further, Black DACA recipients are erased from debates and policy conversations about “Dreamers.” 27 Rep. Clarke Statement on Trump Attack on Diversity Visa Lottery, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, https://clarke.house.gov/rep- clarke-statement-trump-attack-diversity-visa-lottery/ (last visited May 4, 2021). 28 Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.uscis.gov/ humanitarian/consideration-of-deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals-daca (last visited May 4, 2021).

29 Id. 30 Id. 31 See Appendix for detailed eligibility requirements.

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Opportunities DACA has given a much-needed reprieve from the threat of deportation to approximately 825,000 total approved recipients, of which approximately 643,000 are currently benefiting from the program. 32 DACA recipients are four times less likely to worry about deportation or arrest than non-recipients of DACA, 33 and they report less stress, anxiety, and depression when in DACA status. 34 Work authorization is also a key component of DACA that has produced positive outcomes for recipients, who are able to be gainfully employed and begin careers. Research has shown increased employment and positive impacts on wages. 35 DACA also provides recipients with access to drivers’ licenses, and in many states, professional licenses. 36 Obstacles Although DACA provides a temporary reprieve from the threat of deportation, two years is ultimately a short time when trying to plan for the future, and there is no current pathway for DACA recipients to any permanent legal status. Additionally, significant criminal bars to eligibility for DACA lock out many Black immigrants who might otherwise qualify for DACA, but for their interactions with the criminal justice system. Cost is also a significant barrier. The fee to apply for DACA is $495, 37 which is prohibitive to many potential applicants. Finally, even upon receiving DACA, most federal benefits are still not available to recipients, including Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act marketplace, 38 and federal student aid. 39 DACA Through the Black Immigrant Lens The impact of DACA on Black immigrants is also profound. It is estimated there are at least 12,000 Black DACA recipients, with 3% of African immigrants eligible and 2% of Caribbean immigrants eligible for the program. 40 Black DACA recipients are often excluded from “Dreamer” narratives, and as noted above, criminal bars to eligibility lock out many Black immigrants who might otherwise be eligible. Establishing a pathway to permanent status for DACA recipients and DACA-eligible Black immigrants is critical for achieving a more just and equitable immigration policy. 32 How many DACA recipients are there in the United States?, USA Facts (updated Sept. 23, 2020), https://usafacts.org/articles/how- many-daca-recipients-are-there-united-states/. 33 Norma Ramirez et. al., DACA and Immigrant Youth: What Are We Called To Do?, The Thrive Ctr., https://thethrivecenter.org/ resource-article/daca-and-immigrant-youth/ (last visited May 4, 2021). 34 Osea Giuntella & Jakub Lonsky, The Effects of DACA on Health Insurance, Access to Care, and Health Outcomes, IZA Inst. Of Labor Economics (April 2018), http://ftp.iza.org/dp11469.pdf. 35 Tom K. Wong et. al., Amid Legal and Political Uncertainty, DACA Remains More Important Than Ever, Ctr. For Am. Progress (Aug. 15, 2018) https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2018/08/15/454731/amid-legal-political-uncertainty-daca- remains-important-ever/. 36 Id. 37 I-812D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.uscis.gov/i- 821d (last visited May 4, 2021). 38 Ctrs. For Medicare & Medicaid Servs., Immigration status and the Marketplace, HealthCare.gov https://www.healthcare.gov/ immigrants/immigration-status/ (last visited May 4, 2021). 39 U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Financial Aid and Undocumented Students, StudentAid.gov, https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/financial- aid-and-undocumented-students.pdf. (last visited May 4, 2021). 40 Sarah Anderson, Raising Up Black Immigrants in the DACA Debate, Inequality.org (Sept. 8, 2017) https://inequality.org/great- divide/raising-Black-immigrants-daca-debate/.

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Temporary Protected Status Brief Overview of TPS

TPS is designated to a country by the Secretary of Homeland Security due to conditions in that country that temporarily prevent that country’s nationals from returning safely. 41 Working under the authority of DHS, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may grant TPS to eligible nationals of certain countries or parts of countries who are already in the United States. The following are conditions under which the Secretary may designate a country for TPS: ongoing armed conflict (such as a civil war), an environmental disaster, an epidemic, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. 42 TPS is, as indicated by its name, temporary and does not lead to lawful permanent resident status or any other immigration status. However, under TPS, an individual may still apply for nonimmigrant visa status, file for adjustment of status based on an immigrant petition, or apply for any other immigration benefit or protection for which they may be eligible. 43 TPS can be repeatedly redesignated for countries with temporary but continuing conditions that remain unsafe or unstable. As a result, many TPS holders have been living in the United States for decades with merely temporary status. Countries currently designated for TPS include El Salvador , Haiti , Honduras , Nepal , Nicaragua , Somalia , Sudan , South Sudan , Syria , and Yemen. There are currently more than 425,000 people with TPS in the United States. 44 Opportunities Although TPS is impermanent, individuals eligible for TPS can apply for a work permit and can gain “lawful status as a nonimmigrant.” 45 Obstacles TPS alone does not grant any legal status--only temporary protection against deportation. TPS also does not provide a path to permanent residence or to eventual U.S. citizenship. The temporary nature of this form of relief (given that TPS is typically designated for only 6 to 18 months at a time for each country under consideration) leads to significant uncertainty among these individuals and their networks of family, TPS accounts for temporary relief for many Black immigrants, given that the current list of TPS designees includes three African countries and one Caribbean country. The Trump Administration sought to systematically cut off TPS designations, adding to the devastating impact felt by Black TPS holders nationwide. 46 Additionally, TPS is a very limited and temporary formof relief. Any change in administration, or inDHS leadership, could lead to a country’s TPSdesignation expiring.Thismeans that BlackTPSholders are in a constant state of uncertainty, unable to begin lasting careers, purchase property, or root themselves deeply in the United States. Some TPS holders who have children born in the United States live in fear that friends, and children born in the United States. TPS Through the Black Immigrant Lens

41 Temporary Protected Status, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected- status (last visited May 4, 2021).

42 Id. 43 Id.

44 Temporary Protected Status (TPS), The UndocuBlack Network, https://undocuBlack.org/tps (last visited May 4, 2021). 45 Jill H. Wilson, Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure, Cong. Res. Serv. (RS20844) (2021). 46 Ibrahim, supra note 10.

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they may be separated from their children if TPS is allowed to expire or not redesignated. TPS is also a niche status, historically not often discussed or advocated for by mainstream immigration advocates, leaving TPS holders out of larger conversations about immigration and pathways to citizenship.

Short Case Study: Haiti There are close to 50,000 Haitians living with TPS in the United States. These are people who have built lives in the United States, often having children and establishing families and community networks here. American children born to Haitian TPS recipients and Haitian families have to face the harsh reality that their lives together in this country may not be permanent. The possible revocation of a country’s TPS status would jeopardize those lives and possibly break families apart. 47

Deferred Enforced Departure Brief Overview of DED

DED is a status authorized by the President as part of the presidential executive powers of discretion. 48 If covered by DED, an individual is not subject to removal from the United States for a designated period of time and may be eligible for work authorization if they meet certain criteria and apply for a work permit. In 2007, President George W. Bush directed that DED be provided to Liberians in the United States whose TPS protection was set to expire on September 30, 2007. 49 DED status for Liberia was extended since then by all Presidents through President Trump and was subsequently set to expire on March 31, 2018. Through advocacy from Liberian community members and immigration advocates, DED for Liberia was finally extended by President Trump through January 10, 2021. On January 20, 2021, President Biden issued a memorandum directing the Secretary of Homeland Security to reinstate DED for eligible Liberians and to provide for continued work authorization through June 30, 2022. 50

47 Peniel Ibe & Kathryn Johnson, Trump has ended Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Here’s what you need to know, Am. Friend Serv. Comm. (Jun. 30, 2020), https://www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/trump-has-ended- temporary-protected-status-hundreds-thousands-immigrants. 48 President Biden Reinstates DED for Eligible Liberians, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/ president-biden-reinstates-ded-for-eligible-liberians (last visited May 4, 2021). 49 DED Granted Country – Liberia, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/deferred-enforced- departure/ded-granted-country-liberia (last visited May 4, 2021). 50 U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., supra note 48.

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Opportunities DED recipients are generally eligible to obtain work authorization and do not accrue unlawful status during the specified DED period (meaning they would avoid being subject to bars to reentry while in DED status). 51 Work permits, in turn, allow DED recipients to apply for drivers’ licenses in most states. Obstacles As DED is derived from the executive power and has no statutory authority, DED holders are often dependent on the priorities of the current presidential administration. DED holders are also faced with the prospect of having their status revoked, as threatened by the former Trump Administration’s moves to wind down this protection. Similar to TPS and DACA, this status is impermanent and leaves recipients without the ability to make long-term plans for their careers, families, or communities. DED Through the Black Immigrant Lens Around 10,000 Liberians are affected by President Biden’s January 2021 move to reinstate DED. 52 Since the 1990s, Liberians who fled the civil war in their country of origin have received protection from deportation through TPS and later DED. The Trump Administration’s decision to phase out DED in January 2021 jeopardized the lives and livelihood of Liberians, who risked losing their jobs in addition to possibly being deported if DED expired. Many DED holders have been living in the United States for thirty years, establishing deep ties to their communities in the United States. However, due to the extension of DED for Liberians early in the Biden Administration, eligible Liberians in the United States will be temporarily safe from deportation until June 30, 2022. CONCLUSION Part I of this report offers a non-exhaustive snapshot of the varied Black immigrant experience in the United States. Black immigrants face significant, systemic challenges accessing all manner of immigration benefits as well as navigating an anti-Black, racist system of law enforcement and policing. Black immigrants are often excluded from national rhetoric about immigration and are thus left out of critical conversations and advocacy spaces where their diverse experiences as asylum seekers, refugees, visa holders, DACA recipients, TPS holders, and DED holders are ignored. Part II will delve deeply into the hard-won Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Program, which is the outcome of years of community organizing led by and focused on Black immigrants.

51 Ben Harrington, An Overview of Discretionary Reprieves from Removal: Deferred Action, DACA, TPS, and Others, Cong. Res.Serv. (R45158) (2018). 52 Daniel Gonzalez, Black immigrant advocates praise Biden for reinstating deportation protections for Liberians who fled civil war, azcentral.com (Feb. 14, 2021), https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2021/02/14/biden-reinstates-liberian- deportation-protections-deferred-enforced-departure/4363464001/.

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PART II: LIBERIAN REFUGEE IMMIGRATION FAIRNESS (LRIF)

In Part II of this report, we will explore the unique immigration history of Liberians in the United States, including the passage of the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) provisions, and the road to citizenship. Understanding intimately the limitations of both DED and TPS, advocates searched for a better solution for Liberians than the stopgap measures that had been implemented and revoked over time. As the first major immigrant legalization bill in decades, LRIF is a long-awaited reprieve for those stuck in immigration limbo. It is also a helpful model for community-based immigration legislative advocacy as well as a study in implementation challenges yet to be resolved. An Overview of the Liberian Community in the United States Population estimates of Liberians in the United States vary. The Migration Policy Institute estimated in 2018 a total population of 84,800 Liberian immigrants present in the United States. 53 However, in 2012 the American Community Survey estimated that 73,131 Liberian immigrants were living in the United States at the time. 54 Some organizations estimate there are between 250,000 and 500,000 Liberians or Americans of Liberian descent living in the United States. Current numbers demonstrate that 15% of Liberians living in the United States reside in Minnesota. 55 Other states with significant Liberian populations include Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. 56 Tracing Temporary Status for Liberians in the United States The temporary immigration status of Liberians in the United States can be traced from decisions to grant TPS and DED for Liberia at different periods of time beginning inMarch 1991. There are three significant reasons for these continuous grants of temporary status: (1) a civil war in Liberia that erupted in 1989; (2) a subsequent Liberian civil war in 2002; and (3) an Ebola outbreak in 2014. The culmination of these three traumatic events triggered grants of temporary protection for Liberians in the United States for more than twenty-five years. Although the original grant of protection was meant to provide relief from armed conflict in Liberia, due to the 1989 civil war, Liberians were left in legal limbo until the passage of LRIF in 2019. Before LRIF, Liberians were permitted to live and work in the United States under their DED or TPS status, but never allowed to adjust their status or naturalize as U.S. citizens. The temporary nature of the DED and TPS designations for Liberia left many people’s fates to the whims of the U.S. government. Many had to wonder year-to-year whether they could remain in the United States as civil wars and an Ebola crisis swept through Liberia. Tracing the continuous grants of protection, due to three primary events, illuminates the significant void that LRIF fills.

53 Janet E. Reilly, Becoming Transnational Citizens: The Liberian Diaspora’s Civic Engagement in the United States and in Homeland Peacebuilding, 31 – 33 CUNY Academic Works (2014), https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/98/. 54 Id. 55 International Institute of Minnesota, https://iimn.org/publication/finding-common-ground/minnesotas-refugees/africa/liberians/. 56 Reilly, supra note 53, at 31.

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A Brief History of U.S. Intervention in the Establishment of Liberia Liberia’s origins as a country are found in the journey of newly-freed Black Americans and the formation of the American Colonization Society (ACS) in 1817. The ACS and high-ranking members of the U.S. government, rather than integrate formely-enslaved Black Americans into the republic, elected to send them elsewhere. 57 The founding of the ACS, reveals the ingrained otherization of Black Americans, and the refusal to weave them into the fabric of the country they helped to build. In 1822, the ACS purchased a tract of land and created a settlement of formerly enslaved people in Liberia named Monrovia after James Monroe, the U.S. President who supported the ACS. 58 In 1847, this settlement grew into the free and independent Republic of Liberia. Modern Politics and the Intertwining Grants of TPS and DED for Liberia December 1989 marks the beginning of the two brutal, consecutive civil wars in Liberia that forced many to flee the country due to armed conflict. During this period of time, the Liberian people suffered countless atrocities. Both conflicts were defined by the use of child soldiers, extensive civilian casualties, and widespread sexual violence. Civilians paid the price of these wars with their lives and dignity. 59 The United States first responded to Liberia’s civil war in 1991, when George H.W. Bush’s Administration first granted TPS to Liberians. The decision was directly influenced by the “ongoing armed conflict within Liberia,” and “extraordinary and temporary conditions in Liberia that prevent[ed] … nationals of Liberia from returning to Liberia in safety.” According to the procedure that predated the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, TPS designation at the time fell to the Attorney General. Subsequent U.S. Attorneys General continued to extend Liberian TPS designations regularly, although the designation was eventually set to expire in 1999. However, Liberia’s second civil war also erupted in 1999. Despite this, then-Attorney General Janet Reno announced that she planned on letting TPS expire, due to reports that the first civil war had ended. The “reports” that she cited were not aligned with a State Department report which recommended that U.S. citizens not visit Liberia, due to instability and reported human rights abuses. 60 On the eve of the TPS expiration date in 1999, President Bill Clinton granted relief to Liberians in the form of DED. 61 This move would become a trend demonstrating how protections for Liberians turned into a political hot potato. In the years to come, when a cabinet secretary would fail to extend TPS, a president would exercise his exclusive authority to grant DED. President Clinton’s 1999 DED designation was set to expire in September 2000, but both Republican and Democratic administrations endorsed extending the DED designation until 2002. By 2002, the second civil war in Liberia had worsened, displacing 120,000 Liberians and forcing 75,000 to flee their country. 57 African American Intellectual History Society, https://www.aaihs.org/the-american-colonization-society-200-years-of-the- colonizing-trick/. 58 Macalester College, A History of Liberia, its Conflicts and Diaspora, https://sites.google.com/a/macalester.edu/refugees/liberians (accessed Jan. 1, 2020). 59 World Culture Encyclopedia, Countries and Their Cultures, (accessed March 2021) https://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/ Liberian-Americans.html 60 Khalil P. Saucier, Ph.D, Liberian Immigrants in Rhode Island: The Trauma, The Bliss, and The Dilemma, Rhode Island College Department of Sociology; available at http://africamigration.com/issue/dec2011/Khalil-Saucier_Liberian-Immigrants-in-Rhode- Island.pdf. 61 Sussis, Matthew, The History of Temporary Protected Status for Liberia: After nearly three decades, activists pressure the White House for another extension, Center for Immigration Studies, (Mar. 27, 2019), https://cis.org/Sussis/History- Temporary-Protected-Status-Liberia.

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Given worsening conditions, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft redesignated Liberia as a TPS country in 2002, because of the serious risk posed by involuntarily deporting Liberians in the United States. 62 TPS for Liberia was redesignated by then-DHS Secretary Tom Ridge in 2003 and was set to expire in 2007. One month before the expiration, former President George W. Bush designated Liberia for DED protection for an additional 18 months. 63 In March 2009, former President Barack Obama again extended DED for Liberians, and continued to do so in 2010, 2011, and 2013, for periods of 18 to 24 months each. In March 2014, the first Ebola infection was detected in Liberia. Devastated by consecutive civil wars, Liberia’s healthcare system was not prepared for Ebola, and thousands of Liberian citizens died. In November 2014, as a result of the larger Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, the Obama Administration extended TPS status to Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone for eighteen months. 64 However, the Obama Administration also implemented a 180-day TPS registration period, after which people from those countries would lose eligibility for TPS. In 2016, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson declined to extend Liberia’s 2014 TPS designation further, based on the premise that improved conditions in Liberia no longer supported TPS designation. 65 However, on the same day of Secretary Johnson’s announcement, President Obama extended DED to Liberians until March 2018. 66 Unsurprisingly, the TrumpAdministration’s anti-immigrant agenda left the TPS andDEDprotections twisting in the wind, along with the people relying on them. In 2018, former President Donald Trump terminated the DED designation for Liberia, with a twelve-month long wind-down period lasting until March 31, 2019. In response to President Trump’s decision to terminate DED for Liberia, activists and lawyers fought back in the courts. Following the announcement of the DEDwind-down period in 2018, plaintiffs filed suit in African Communities Together v. Trump seeking to enjoin the termination of DED protection for Liberia. 67 They argued that the political instability and Ebola crisis that led to DED designation were still harming Liberia and that it remained unsafe for nationals to return. Ending the program prematurely, they argued, risked harm to the local communities and could not be motivated by anything other than racial animus. District Court Judge Hillman found that the court lacked the authority to compel the President to extend DED. 68 The constant back and forth of different programs being implemented and then rescinded, year-to-year, meant many Liberians in the United States were never certain they could stay. The risk of running afoul of immigration law is and was an ever-present risk with dire consequences. For many Liberians, they risked returning to a land they were no longer familiar with, or no longer called home. Navigating the patchwork legal system is hard for anyone, and many Liberians who attempted to do so were still worried. 62 Id. 63 Forrest G. Read, Liberian Holders of DED Status May Have to Leave the U.S. Following Federal Judge’s Decision, THE NAT’L LAW REVIEW, (Oct. 30, 2019), https://www.natlawreview.com/article/liberian-holders-ded-status-may-have-to-leave-us-following- federal-judge-s-decision. 64 DHS Announces Temporary Protected Status Designations for Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (Nov. 20, 2014), https://www.uscis.gov/archive/dhs-announces-temporary-protected-status-designations-for-liberia-guinea-and- sierra-leone. 65 Sussis, supra note 61. 66 Id. 67 African Communities Together v. Trump, case no. 1:19-cv-10432 (D. Mass.). 68 Read, supra note 63.

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Immigration Policy Impacts on Liberian Community Members

“ “

It makes it impossible to plan every year. Because every year you don’t know if it is going to renew. It makes it hard to put down roots. It makes it really difficult to plan long-term. It’s even hard to know if you should fully decorate because you don’t know if you’re going to be here for very long. It makes it difficult for employers to want to hire you.

”

- Z.J., North Carolina

The effect [of losing DED and returning to Liberia], one and foremost is like going to a new land. Like taking and sending you miles away from your support. As I speak to you, I am thinking about my 17-year-old daughter. I do everything for my daughter. She’s not on welfare or anything. I do everything for my daughter. Even right now she’s in the academy, into music and athleticism. All those things I pay for. No scholarship or anything. I am paying out of pocket. So right now I do not know what will happen to her if I am not here. The other ones are married and moving on but my daughter concerns me. The bond that we share. I don’t know, you know sometimes you don’t want to think certain things because I am a man of faith, believing and trusting God. I have been standing in this line for decade[s]. I hear over and over again, the argument that people should come here legally and follow the law and you will be taken care of. I have done all of that and gotten in line. I have been standing on this line for decades, for almost 20 years. I have been standing on the line. I have been told over and over again,’ to do the right thing, follow the rules, and you will be able to stay.’ I have done that but now the line I was told to stand on is about to be removed. Why? It was because of President Trump’s behavior. It was a wakeup call for not only us, but our congresspeople, it was a wakeup call to say, look, you do this now, or this whole group of people, every state, and all the contributions that we have been making in this country will be gone. So all of those states did know what was coming towards them, so they saw they had to wake up and say look, this is no time to do the same thing that we’ve done all these years. Liberians have been in this country for 35 years, and some people more than that. There was a wakeup call because of questioning attitudes towards people like me. ” ” - P.M.P., Minnesota - L.S., Minnesota

“

“

”

- L.S., Minnesota

These circumstances were not sustainable or just, and the Liberian community and their advocates fought fiercely to address the challenges faced by the community. After hearing about the anti-immigrant, anti-Black, and racist points then-candidate Donald Trump built his campaign and presidency around, many people were ready to act.

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