President Orders DED for Liberians Extended Another Year

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Asylum, Refugee, and Other
Protected Statuses

PRESIDENT ORDERS DED FOR LIBERIANS EXTENDED ANOTHER YEAR
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 15, No. 6, Oct. 8, 2001

President George W. Bush has directed the attorney general to extend deferred enforced departure (DED) for Liberians currently in the U.S. and to make the relief available for another one-year period beginning Sept. 29, 2001. From 1991 through 1999, Liberia was designated for temporary protected status (TPS). In 1999, former President Bill Clinton determined that conditions in Liberia had improved to an extent warranting termination of TPS. However, he also found that serious political and economic problems warranted extending DED to Liberians, and the status was extended again in 2000. This order extends DED designation for Liberians, granting them permission to remain in the U.S. as well as employment authorization during the DED period. In order to qualify for DED under the extension, eligible Liberian nationals must have been present in the U.S. as of Sept. 29, 2001.

However, the president's directive excludes from DED eligibility any of the following categories of Liberian nationals:

those who are ineligible for temporary protected status for reasons outlined in Immigration and Nationality Act section 244(c)(2)(B);
those whose removal the AG determines is in the U.S.'s interest;
those whose presence or activities in the U.S. the secretary of state has reasonable grounds for believing would have adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy;
those who have returned or do return voluntarily to Liberia or their country of last habitual residence outside the U.S;
those who were deported, excluded, or removed prior to the date of the presidential memorandum; and
those who are subject to extradition.