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Homeland Security announces Haitian Family Reunification program

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On Oct. 17, the Department of Homeland Security announced the implementation of the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program, scheduled to begin in early 2015.

According to the DHS website, the HFRP Program will expedite family reunification for certain eligible Haitian family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents of the U.S. One of the stated goals of the program is “to promote safe, legal and orderly migration from Haiti to the United States.”

Massachusetts state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry said, “This program will expedite reunifications for Haitian families, many of whom have been separated for years, even though their petitions for entry visas to the U.S. have been approved. This need for this program became particularly acute in the aftermath of the Jan. 10, 2010 earthquake that devastated the country and left so many families displaced and in dire need of the kind of support that only families, ultimately, can provide to their loved ones.”

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it will offer certain eligible Haitian beneficiaries of already-approved family-based immigrant visa petitions who are currently in Haiti an opportunity to come to the United States up to approximately two years before their immigrant visa priority dates become current.

Roughly 100,000 Haitians already approved to come to the U.S. are currently awaiting visas, according to Associated Press reports.

“I want to thank President Barack Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson for their decision to make the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program a reality,” added Dorcena Forry. “Although conditions in Haiti have slowly improved since the devastating earthquake of January 2010, there is still much work to do in stabilizing the country. Bringing these displaced families back together is the right thing to do, not only for the mutual benefit of both countries, but for the children, parents and siblings who depend upon and love each other.”

The Immigration and Nationality Act provides legal authority for the HFRP program, which in turn, authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security “to parole into the United States certain individuals, on a case-by-case basis, for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

This is the same legal authority used to establish the Cuban Family Reunification Parole program in 2007.