US to allow longer stay for Somali migrants over conflict
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency headquarters. The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will allow specially designated Somali immigrants to remain in the US for at least the next 18 months. PHOTO | ALEX WONG | GETTY IMAGES | AFP
What you need to know:
- Clearance for the affected Somalis to remain in the US also took some of President Trump's critics by surprise.
- Temporary permission to remain in the US was extended 22 times in subsequent years.
- Close to half of Somalia's 11 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of drought and displacement.
New York
The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will allow specially designated Somali immigrants to remain in the US for at least the next 18 months.
Authorities in Washington said the decision was based on "ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary conditions" in Somalia.
The extension of "temporary protected status" for some 500 Somalis living in the US amounts to an admission by the Trump administration that there is little prospect of a near-term victory over Al-Shabaab.
Clearance for the affected Somalis to remain in the US also took some of President Trump's critics by surprise.
They had anticipated that protected status for Somalis would be revoked in keeping with Mr Trump's anti-immigrant actions.
CANCELLED
The same status had been cancelled during the past year for a total of 428,250 immigrants to the US from half-a-dozen unstable countries, including Liberia, Sudan, Nicaragua and Haiti.
The Trump administration has also been stepping up deportations of Somalis who have not been granted protected status.
Last year, a total of 521 unauthorised Somalis were removed from the US, compared to 198 in 2016.
At the same time, the Trump administration has extended protected status for those fleeing war and hunger in South Sudan, Yemen and Syria.
CIVIL WAR
Somalis in the US were first deemed eligible for the special status in 1991 when their country erupted into civil war following the overthrow of the Siad Barre dictatorship.
Temporary permission to remain in the US was extended 22 times in subsequent years.
In urging that the Somalis be allowed to stay in the US, pro-immigrant advocates pointed to a United Nations finding that more 4,500 civilians were killed in Somalia between January 2016 and October 2017.
Close to half the country's 11 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of drought and displacement from their homes.
Terminating protected status "would essentially be a death sentence" for Somalis forced to leave the US, Mustafa Jumale, the head of an advocacy group for black immigrants, had warned prior to Thursday's decision.
