Once open for applications, the TPS program will allow Cameroonians who have lived in the United States since April 14 to obtain work permits and deportation protection for 18 months if they meet the eligibility requirements and undergo history checks. A 1990 law authorizes the U.S. government to set up TPS programs for undocumented or temporary immigrants if the U.S. determines that their country of origin cannot safely accept the return of their citizens due to war, natural disasters, or other “emergency” conditions. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the TPS designation for Cameroon was justified because of the chronic conflict between the Cameroonian government and armed separatist groups in the English-speaking areas of the west. Fighting has killed 4,000 civilians, according to Human Rights Watch. DHS also reported an increase in attacks by Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group in Africa. The conditions, DHS said, have assumed “extreme violence”, decimated Cameroon’s infrastructure, fueled economic turmoil and food insecurity, and displaced hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians. “Cameroonians currently living in the United States and unable to return safely due to the extreme violence perpetrated by government forces and separatists and the escalation of attacks under Boko Haram leadership will be able to remain “Work in the United States until conditions improve,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mallorca. About 11,700 migrants from Cameroon are expected to qualify for the TPS, according to an DHS estimate. Cameroonians arriving in the US after Friday’s announcement, either legally or illegally, will not be eligible for TPS. While it allows beneficiaries to work and live in the US without fear of deportation, TPS does not make them eligible for permanent residence or citizenship. Located in a former school building, a local NGO records locally displaced residents for humanitarian aid arriving from new shrub settlements on May 11, 2019 in Buea, Cameroon. Giles Clarke / UNOCHA via Getty Images The Biden government is increasingly using the TPS principle to protect subsets of immigrant groups in the United States from deportation, extending or creating names for nearly a dozen countries affected by war, ethnic violence, political instability and other crises. Biden’s appointments have made some 600,000 U.S. immigrants eligible for TPS, including citizens of Venezuela, Myanmar, Haiti, Afghanistan and Ukraine, according to government estimates. The move is in stark contrast to the policies of the Trump administration, which has sought to end TPS programs for hundreds of thousands of migrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan as part of its humanitarian crackdown. protection of immigration. These efforts were thwarted by federal court rulings. Trump administration officials and immigration restrictors have argued that the TPS power has been abused, protecting immigrants from deportation for longer than necessary. Friday’s announcement is a victory for defense groups calling on the Biden government to grant TPS to Cameroonians since last year. Progressive supporters and some Democrats have expressed frustration with the time it took to offer protection to citizens of a predominantly black African country, compared to the TPS rating for Ukraine, announced a week after the Russian invasion. Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a group that helps black immigrants, hailed the TPS rating for Cameroon as “overdue”. However, she said immigration aid for black migrants has been unfairly denied or delayed, noting that her team and others have been pushing for the TPS to be offered to Cameroonians for months. “This was a long battle,” Jozef said. “When it comes to TPS for Cameroon and Haiti, it was not just a gift. It was something we literally had to fight for, for a long time.” California lawmaker Zoe Lofgren, chair of the House Democratic House Immigration Subcommittee, and Democrat Hank Johnson of Georgia, called Friday’s announcement a “humane decision.” Last fall, the two lawmakers, who denounced deportations to Cameroon, introduced a bill that would grant TPS to Cameroonians. “Unfortunately, instead of providing legal safe haven in the United States, the Trump administration cut off Cameroonians from our refugee program and subjected asylum seekers to inhumane treatment,” Lofgren and Johnson said. “This will always be a stain on our nation, but we are excited that the Biden government is taking the appropriate steps to help correct this mistake.”
More Camilo Montoya-Galvez Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter for CBS News. Based in Washington, DC, it covers immigration and policy.