Liberians living in U.S. with Deferred Enforced Departure get 11th-hour reprieve from President Donald Trump

March 29-- Mar. 29--The White House reversed course in the 11th hour on its decision to end temporary protections for Liberian immigrants living in the United States.

Liberians who have Deferred Enforced Departure, a form of temporary legal status granted by the president, were days away from losing those protections. The Trump administration decided a year earlier that it would terminate the program on March 31, arguing that conditions had improved in the West African nation.

"Upon further reflection and review, I have decided that it is in the foreign policy interest in the United States to extend the wind-down period for an additional 12 months," the White House wrote in a memorandum published Thursday afternoon. DED status is now scheduled to end March 30, 2020.

The decision came hours before government attorneys were expected to appear in federal court in Boston for an emergency hearing. Civil rights lawyers who are suing the government on behalf of the Liberians were requesting an extension of the program while the lawsuit progressed in court.

"We were confident in our case, but this outcome was a surprise," said Oren Nimni, a staff attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights.

The lawsuit continues as civil rights attorneys challenge the Trump administration's decision to terminate DED status for Liberians, whose country was founded by freed American slaves. The extension buys some time for the plaintiffs.

"It's an amazing thing for a small immigrant community of black and African immigrants to band together and put pressure on the whole federal government and the Trump administration," Nimni said.

Immigrants from DED have no direct path to permanent legal status. Previous DED recipients from China, El Salvador, Haiti and other countries were able to secure legal permanent residency after Congress passed laws granting those groups permission to apply for green cards, according to the lawsuit.

The Liberians would receive permanent protections under the American Dream and Promise Act introduced by House Democrats. The bill also proposes extending protections for recipients of Temporary Protected Status and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The White House announcement suggested that the wind-down will give Congress time to pass laws that could create a path for permanent legal status for this group of Liberians.

The memorandum status, "extending the wind-down period will preserve the status quo while Congress considers remedial legislation."

Liberians in Massachusetts

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What is Deferred Enforced Departure?

DED is one of the lesser-known humanitarian programs that offer temporary protections for immigrants. Similar to TPS, DED protects immigrants whose native countries are marred by war, civil unrest, natural disasters or public health crises. However, it is up to the president to use his foreign policy authority to grant DED status.

Since 1991, Liberians have either had TPS or DED because of armed conflict, instability in their native country and most recently the Ebola epidemic. Every few years, the fate of these immigrants in the U.S. came into question.

Libera is currently the only country whose citizens have a DED order.

It is unclear exactly how many Liberians in the U.S. have protections DED. About 839 Liberians had approved work permits under the DED directive as of March 14, 2018, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service, citing federal data. The report noted that the number doesn't reflect all Liberians who might be covered under this DED announcement, but rather notes who applied for and received work permits.

According to the lawsuit, DED could protect an estimated 4,000 Liberians in the U.S.

Massachusetts is home to 2,750 people who were born in Liberia, according to an amici brief. About 600 people of Liberian ancestry report that they are not U.S. citizens, but that doesn't mean they all have DED.

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The group is smaller than the population of TPS holders and DACA recipients, but attorneys representing the Liberians argued the end of the DED program is part of the Trump administration's strategy to weed out black and brown immigrants.

Why are Liberians suing?

The lawsuit, led by advocacy groups African Communities Together and the UndocuBlack Network, was filed earlier this month. The plaintiffs include three Liberians from Worcester and their U.S.-citizen children, as well as one from Los Angeles, one from Minnesota and a family from Maryland.

The lawsuit challenges the Trump administration's decision to end DED status for Liberians, arguing the West African nation is struggling to recover from armed conflict and the Ebola epidemic.

Attorneys say that ending DED status means Liberians would have to choose between living in the shadows or returning to a country where they're not safe, leaving behind their U.S.-citizen children.

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The lawsuit also argues that the Trump administration moved to end DED status because it is trying to root out black and brown immigrants and attract immigrants from predominantly white countries such as Norway. The lawsuit cites a 2018 Washington Post report on a meeting stating that Donald Trump had called African nations, Haiti and El Salvador "s---hole countries" while discussing a bipartisan immigration deal.

"My take is that they bowed to the pressures of litigation and didn't want to roll the dice and risk a bad decision," Nimni said.

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