Liberians' temporary status is extended 18 months

Celebration erupted among Minnesota's Liberians on Wednesday as news spread through their communities that the White House had decided to grant an 18-month extension to those who had been in the United States under temporary status.

"Thank God. Thank God," said Cleo Harris of Brooklyn Park who, like many of the Liberians, had contemplated leaving her U.S.-born daughter behind if she were forced to leave.

Harris and about 4,000 other Liberians nationwide had been under orders from the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country by Oct. 1. About 1,000 live in Minnesota.

After that date, they faced deportation. The decision announced by the White House on Wednesday defers their deportation by 18 months.

"This is wonderful news," said James Kollie of Brooklyn Park, leader of a Minnesota group called the Liberian Immigration Solidarity Committee, which demonstrated at the Minnesota State Capitol last spring over the issue.

The White House decision leaves the Liberians short of the permanent residency they had been seeking all year. But it buys them valuable time, Kollie said.

"We are going to start working on the permanent residency goal immediately," he said. "We are going to treat every day as if temporary status ended tomorrow ... and not wait until 17 months have passed."

The Liberians had been allowed to live and work in the United States since 1991 while their West African nation was wracked by a bloody civil war. Last September, Homeland Security announced it was time for them to go home because the war had ended, a U.N. force was maintaining order and a democratically elected government was beginning to rebuild the country.

But the Liberian government warned Washington this year that a flood of returnees could jeopardize its fragile stability.

Meanwhile, Minnesota employers and communities where the Liberians live had joined their lobbying effort in Washington. Many of the Liberians work in health care jobs, and their employers feared a serious shortage of hospital and nursing home workers come October.

Officials in Brooklyn Park, where many of the Liberians live, also worried that a glut of homes and apartments might depress the city's real estate markets. Harris, who holds two jobs as a nursing aide in group homes, worried as the deadline approached that she would lose those jobs any day. Many loved ones in Liberia count on the money she earns.

But her greatest worry was for her daughter, 8-year-old Yatta Cooke, who started school this fall with a world of tension on her small shoulders. Harris had decided she couldn't take Yatta back to Liberia where there are no jobs, crime is rampant and health care is hard to come by.

"I'm going to spread the news," a jubilant Harris said when she got the word by phone. "The first person I'm going to tell is Yatta."

President Bush's order authorizes the Liberians to work in the United States as well as to stay for 18 more months, said Michele Garnett McKenzie, an attorney for Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, which has helped the Liberians prepare to make their case in Washington.

Minnesota's entire Washington delegation supported the Liberians' bid to stay. A bill granting them one more year passed the House in July, but it was blocked in the Senate. In August, 54 House members sent a letter to Bush, urging him to extend the Liberians' legal stay. Signatures on the letter included Minnesota Republicans Jim Ramstad and John Kline and Democrats Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and Collin Peterson.

On Wednesday, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said in a statement reacting to the decision: "With Liberia still struggling to rebuild and stabilize following years of civil strife, the country is simply not ready to absorb these people yet." The extension, Coleman said, "will also buy time for policymakers to find a more permanent solution for these important members of our community."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said the 18-month window "allows us to put some distance between this issue and the heated immigration debate."

What distinguishes the Liberians' case from many other immigration issues is the fact that they have been living legally in the country and checking in regularly with government officials. "This isn't someone running into our country," Klobuchar said. "These are people who came over as refugees and have been here in some cases for 15 years. ... Their stories are heartbreaking as to what would happen to them if they return to Liberia."

For their part, the Liberians were relieved and thankful on Wednesday night, said the Rev. James Wilson, a Liberian Episcopal priest who counseled many families as their deportation approached. "The news is all around town tonight," he said. "People are so excited. And people are so grateful."

Staff writer Mary Lynn Smith contributed to this report.