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The administration of President Donald Trump has moved to end immigration protections for over 60,000 Haitians leaving in the United States. In 2019, these immigrants will be forced to leave the country which has been met with impassioned pleas from both Haitians and American citizens who see the action as a cruelty.

The Washington Post reports:

The Trump administration has given nearly 60,000 Haitians with provisional legal residency in the United States 18 months to leave, announcing Monday that it will not renew the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that has allowed them to remain in this country for more than seven years.

The decision came after the Department of Homeland Security determined that the “extraordinary conditions” justifying their presence in the United States following a 2010 earthquake “no longer exist,” a senior administration official said.

“Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of displaced people in Haiti has decreased by 97 percent,” acting Homeland Security secretary Elaine Duke said in a statement. “Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens.”

The Post adds that over 300,000 citizens have been living in the states under the TPS ruling, which is a status given to those who had to flee their native countries because of natural disasters or ongoing war conflicts. Since 1990, TPS has given immigrants protected status with many of them living in America long enough to bear children born in the country.

Protests to have the TPS renewed were robust, but Trump’s administration has remained bullish in its fight to have TPS be used as a temporary measure and not a pathway to legal citizenship.

Photo: WENN.com