-As US-based Liberian rights Advocate Torli Krua writes open Letter to Pres. Trump
By Our Staff Writer
The Founder of the Boston-based Universal Human Rights International (UHRI), Rev. Torli Krua has written US President Donald Trump thanking him for extending the DED program for another year for Liberians, but has called his attention to the “deteriorating plight of American Children and their mothers” who fled the country’s brutal civil war.
DED is the Deferred Enforced Departure program. It allows undocumented Liberians to live in American under a Presidential reprieve, which should have ended on March 31, 2019 and would have resulted into the deportation of several thousands of Liberians.
It started under the Administration of former US President George W. Bush during the 1990s and continued under ex-President Barack Obama.
In his Presidential Memorandum for DED extension dated March 28, 2019 and published on the White House website https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-extension-deferred-enforced-departure-liberians/, President Trump said:
“Upon further reflection and review, I have decided that it is in the foreign policy interest of the United States to extend the wind-down period for an additional 12 months, through March 30, 2020. The overall situation in West Africa remains concerning, and Liberia is an important regional partner for the United States. The reintegration of DED beneficiaries into Liberian civil and political life will be a complex task, and an unsuccessful transition could strain United States-Liberian relations and undermine Liberia’s post-civil war strides toward democracy and political stability. Further, I understand that there are efforts underway by Members of Congress to provide relief for the small population of Liberian DED beneficiaries who remain in the United States. Extending the wind-down period will preserve the status quo while the Congress considers remedial legislation.”
But in his Open Letter to President Trump, Rev. Krua pointed out what he says are flaws in the DED program which the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations has repeatedly extended over the years.
He said it “repeatedly granted DED to a few Liberians while denying other similarly situated Liberians who fled renewed violence in 2003 protected status.”
On March 27, 2019, the USA Today newspaper reported that “allattorneys general in 10 states — including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison — jumped in, submitting a filing in federal court supporting a lawsuit that’s trying to overturn Trump’s decision.”
The American newspaper also reported that “attorneys general wrote that Liberians have contributed to their economies, especially in the field of health care, and that forcing their deportation would hurt their U.S.-born children who are U.S. citizens at birth.”
BELOW IS FULL TEXT OF REV. KRUA’S OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP
Open Letter To United States President
His Excellency Donald J. Trump
White House, Washington, D.C, USA
On Liberian DED Matters
President Trump, Please help Grant Equal Protection To All Liberian Refugees
Trump, please don’t follow Bush, Obama’s lead in denying Liberian Mothers and their American Children: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-extension-deferred-enforced-departure-liberians/
Dear Mr. President:
Please accept our compliments and best wishes as you aim to protect Americans and make America great again. The Universal Human Rights International (UHRI) expresses its gratitude to you for your compassion and fairness and for your reinstatement of the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for certain Liberian Refugees already granted protection in the United States.
With this kind act of presidential grace, many Liberian families are now eligible to continue working legally and supporting their families and the communities they now call home. Mr. President, the purpose of this Open Letter is to request that you kindly consider the deteriorating plight of American Children on our shores and their Liberian mothers who were rescued from the brutal Liberian Civil War on the orders of President George W. Bush.
For 16 years, under President Bush and Obama, the United States of America spent hundreds of billions of dollars of American taxpayers money and the lives of hundreds of American Servicemen and women protecting children in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Mali, protecting children around the world.
Here on the southern border, the plight of migrant children have dominated the news from New York Times to CNN. However, those American children rescued by U.S. Marines and brought to safety in America have never experienced safety nor protection because of a broken immigration system. President Bush who ordered Operation Shining Express failed to protect the young Americans on their arrival on our shores. Barack Obama, the first African American President failed to protect the American children in two terms.
The recent campaign by Lawyers for Human Rights Under The Law again declined to fight for the American children and their Liberian mothers. Only President Donald J. Trump who promised to fight for America and make America great again can help save the lives of American Children in the United States of America.
On November 18, 2003, the entire Massachusetts Delegation to Congress joined UHRI in calling for equal protection for all Liberians, including those rescued by U.S. Marines. We could convince neither the Bush Administration in the USA nor the Sirleaf Administration in Liberia to prioritize the lives of the young Americans and Liberian Mothers.
In 2009, we filed a lawsuit in Federal Court seeking equal protection but the lawsuit failed due to the fact that DED was a matter of presidential grace which was not subject to judicial review. Sixteen (16) years later, we wish to also bring to your attention the plight of many Liberian mothers and their American born children who have been unfairly denied protection for decades by the Bush and Obama Administrations after they were rescued by U.S. Marines from the bloody civil war of 2003.
We have written countless letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren for years with no response. When we heard of a lawsuit by the Lawyers Committee, we immediately contacted them to include the Liberian mothers and their American children. We have heard nothing back from them.
President Trump, we strongly urge you not to follow Presidents Bush or Obama who put these young Americans and their Liberian mothers at serious risks by denial of protection. Please grant DED to all Liberians in currently in the United States because of the Liberian civil war because the recent 2019 DED excludes these vulnerable Liberians.
Sixteen (15) years ago, the entire 12 members of the Massachusetts Delegation to Congress, including the late Edward Kennedy wrote Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge requesting equal protection of all Liberians; “ We are writing to respectfully request that you extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Liberians who entered the United States after October 31, 2002… the violence and bloodshed in Liberia continue as can be seen by the deployment of American Troops to the region. Failure to offer TPS to the newest Liberian nationals and returning them to Liberia would put their personal safety at serious risks.” President Bush and his Homeland Security Secretary Ridge, as well as President Obama, denied the Liberians protected status.
Mr. President, we humbly submit that your current 2019 DED Order followed the flawed precedents of both President George Bush and Barack Obama who repeatedly granted DED to a few Liberians while denying other similarly situated Liberians who fled renewed violence in 2003 protected status. The Liberian Civil War was plotted, financed and executed in the United States of America by Charles Taylor, Tom Woewiyu and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. It is unconscionable that the host of the bloody Liberian Civil War has been unwilling to grant refugee status to Liberians for nearly three decades and have denied protection to young Americans rescued from Monrovia, Liberia.
The United States may help vulnerable migrants worldwide, but this country has an obligation-a constitutional obligation, first and foremost, to protect its own citizens, especially the young and vulnerable at home and abroad. Therefore, we are calling on you, Mr. President, for the benefit of these young Americans languishing on our shores, to extend equal protection to all Liberians currently in the United States because of the Liberian Civil War. In protecting Liberian mothers, young Americans rescued by U.S. Marines from Monrovia and brought to safety will be able to breathe the air of freedom which migrant children have been enjoying for years.
It can be recalled that in June of 2003, President George W. Bush ordered Operation Shining Express, a deployment of an American naval task force, consisting of the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines to rescue U.S. embassy personnel and evacuate United States Citizens trapped in a bloody civil war in Monrovia, Liberia. The American Service men and women, at great risks, rescued and brought to the United States, hundreds of Americans, including babies and toddlers, two to three years of age. Although born in the USA these young Americans returned to Liberia after their parents completed their education in the United States, as required by law. During the evacuation, the United States required the mothers of young American citizens to leave their spouses and Liberian born children and escort only their American child to the safety in the United States for protection and nurturing. Since their arrival in 2003, the United States Government has consistently extended DED/ temporary Protection only to Liberians with DED/TPS that predated escalated fighting in 2003, thus putting Americans children and their mothers at serious risks endlessly.
Sincerely Yours,
Pastor Torli H. Krua, Founder Universal Human Rights International (UHRI)
tkrua@egc.org / 857-249-9983