Attorney General Terminates TPS Designation for Angola

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Asylum, Refugee, and Other
Protected Statuses

ATTORNEY GENERAL TERMINATES TPS DESIGNATION FOR ANGOLA
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 17, No. 1, February 21, 2003

Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided to terminate the designation of Angola under the temporary protected status program when the current designation expires on Mar. 29, 2003. The decision, announced in a notice published in the Federal Register, is based on improvements in conditions in the country, including the end of armed conflict between the Angolan government and UNITA. The notice acknowledges the continued existence of "challenging circumstances" that continue to pose threats to civilians, but does not indicate that the attorney general gave any consideration to granting deferred enforced departure (DED) to Angolans, as has been done with some other nationalities at the termination of a TPS designation.

In terminating the TPS designation, the attorney general noted that an insurgency separate from UNITA continues in the province of Cabinda and that the Angolan government "has increased its military campaign against rebels in this area." However, the U.S. State Dept. considers that because Cabinda is geographically isolated from the rest of Angola, "conditions in that province do not impact Angolans elsewhere."

The notice also acknowledges that "Angola faces the challenge of assisting an estimated 4 million displaced Angolan nationals" and the country "lacks housing, medical services, water systems, and other basic services destroyed by a 27-year-long war." Moreover, there are "as many as 8 million landmines planted in Angolan soil," and "[a]t least 10 provinces, accounting for 40 percent of Angola's countryside, are heavily mined, rendering large areas of arable land and pasture unfit for use."

DED status was granted to Salvadorans in the early 1990s and to Liberians in 1999, when the attorney general determined that country conditions no longer met the statutory requirements for TPS designation but that important considerations warranted against conducting forcible removals to those countries. However, the notice makes no mention of this option, noting only that Angolans "who believe that their particular circumstances make return to Angola unsafe" may seek asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under Article 3 of the Torture Convention.

68 Fed. Reg. 3,896-7 (Jan. 27, 2003).