Obama Grants Haitian Immigrants Temporary Protected Status

Undocumented Haitian immigrants living in the United States have been given temporary protected status. Any Haitian that was in the country before the earthquake struck will be allowed to stay for eighteen months and allowed to work. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said any Haitians that attempt to travel to the United States will be sent back to Haiti.

Source:democracynow.org/

Top General: Despite ‘Pockets of Violence,’ Haiti Remains Relatively Calm

The networks are relaying images of streetfights and chaos, and observers are arguing about the semantics of looting. So how serious, exactly, is the violence in Haiti?

According to Army Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, the commander of Joint Task Force Haiti, things aren’t so bad, as long as you factor in the country’s poor governance, weak rule of law and history of violence. In a conference call last night with bloggers, Keen said the security situation was “relatively calm.” But “relative” is the key word here: Keen added that there were “pockets of violence,” which the task force was tracking closely.

Keen, like other U.S. officials, emphasized that the primary mission was delivering humanitarian relief, not maintaining order. That job, in theory, is supposed to fall to MINUSTAH, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti. “Nevertheless, any incidents of violence impede our ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, and we have to address those, as [U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti] is doing in the best of their ability,” Keen said.

There’s a catch: The UN peacekeeping mission was hit hard by the disaster. Its headquarters in the Christopher Hotel collapsed in the earthquake; dozens of UN personnel were killed, including Hedi Annabi, the Tunisian who headed the international mission there. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he might seek temporary reinforcements for the mission.


In parallel, the U.S. force in Haiti and off the coast keeps growing. Keen said 1,400 U.S. troops were on the ground, with another 5,000 afloat. That number is expected to grow to between 4,000 and 5,000 ground troops, with another 5,000 or so at sea. The Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bataan arrived yesterday off the coast of Haiti, along with ships of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. Elements of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Navy conducted reconnaissance yesterday to help determine how they will fit into the relief picture.

All told, this is shaping up as a major military operation. While it’s not a shooting war, it opens up another big commitment for the U.S. military, at a time when the conflict in Afghanistan is escalating and U.S. troops continue a massive, logistically tricky drawdown in Iraq.

[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]

Source:wired.com/

Obama, former presidents make appeal for Haiti

The U.S. president and his predecessors announced plans to raise money for survivors of the recent devastation.

Washington (WiredPRNews.com) – President Barack Obama and former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton announced on Saturday plans to raise money for survivors of the recent devastation in Haiti. As reported by Reuters, Obama recruited his predecessors to lead national fundraising efforts for the country after an earthquake.

Obama is quoted in the report as stating on Saturday, “By coming together in this way, these two leaders send an unmistakable message to the people of Haiti and to the people of the world. In these difficult hours, America stands united. We stand united with the people of Haiti… We also know that our longer term effort will not be measured in days or weeks, it will be measured in months and even years. And that is why it is so important to enlist and sustain the support of the American people.”

Source:wiredprnews.com/