With the Trump administration still considering whether to extend humanitarian protections to thousands of immigrants from Haiti, officials have also been looking for information related to the number of Haitian immigrants responsible for committing criminal offenses.
The Associated Press has obtained internal emails showing that a high-ranking immigration official wished to receive both crime data and public benefits information about Haitians currently benefiting from the Temporary Protected Status program (TPS). This prevents them from being deported, although not all immigrants can access welfare benefits. It is estimated that 50,000 Haitians have been allowed to stay in the US under the TPS program, following the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in 2010. The question of whether any have committed misdeeds while in the country comes at a pivotal moment.
John Kelly, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), must soon make a decision on whether to continue offering such protections to Haitian immigrants. While his decision would normally depend on the conditions in their homeland, the emails suggest that other criteria are also being taken into consideration.
On Tuesday, David Lapan, the spokesman for the DHS, said that information such as criminal activity, requested by Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, the head of strategy and policy at US Citizenship and Immigration Services, would not be used to reach a final decision on extending TPS. But her repeated emails appear to place a different level of importance on them.