Washington, D.C. — Thousands of Liberians who fled civil conflict in their homeland during the 1990s waited anxiously all day Thursday for word that their expired official "temporary protected status" will be extended. The status enables them to work and reside in the United States.
Without the extension they will be sent back to the West African nation. The uncertainty, says Torli Krua, Director of the organization Universal Human Rights International, set up in 1992 to assist refugees from war-shattered nations, "is like putting more needle into an already painful wound."
In 1991 Attorney General Janet Reno began reviewing conditions in Liberia and each year since then has extended the Liberians' stay for one year. Last year Reno decided that since Liberia's civil war was officially over she could no longer grant protection. At that point President Clinton, citing numerous hardships in Liberia, deferred expelling the refugees for a another year conferring a "Deferred Enforced Departure" status on the refugees.
Although the Liberians are ineligible for government benefits, they pay taxes, work, and many have children who were born in the United states. "I find it ridculous," says Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), "that year after year we are willing to give these good people permission to live and work and pay taxes in this country, but we are unwilling to permanently resolve their situation and invite them to become full American citizens."
Reed has introduced a Liberian Refugee Fairness Act in Congress. The bill grants permanent residency for those who fled to the U.S. between 1989 and 1996, a group that numbers about 10,000. But it has gone nowhere, pushed aside by issues considered of higher priority.
"We just haven't been able to get the bill from committee onto the floor," a spokeperson in Senator Reed's office said. Speaking at a Boston rally in support of the legislation, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank said he was not optimistic about passage of the legislation during this term of Congress which ends October 6.
An aide to Senator Reed seemed to share that pessimism> While indicating that the Senator would seek to attach his legislation as an amendment to one of the bills still pending in Congress, the aide also said: "We're really just trying to be pesky at this point; we're not going to give up until there is no hope at all."
