IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ADVOCATES CALL FOR IMMEDIATE DESIGNATION OF TPS STATUS FOR CAMEROON

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 280 immigrants’ and human rights organizations today delivered a letter to the Biden Administration calling for an immediate designation of temporary protected status (TPS) for Cameroon, in light of the dire situation in the country and for Cameroonians at risk for deportation.   
 
“We stand with Cameroonians, Black immigrant leaders, and our friends and colleagues from across this nation urging the Biden administration to act immediately to extend protection from deportation to Cameroonians living in the U.S.,” said Rose Murray, an attorney with SPLC’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI). “For too long anti-Blackness within the immigration system has resulted in discriminatory harm for Black immigrants.” 
 
Cameroon meets the statutory qualifying factor for TPS – following historic devastation and destabilization by colonizing forces – as it is in the midst of multiple humanitarian crises, including an armed conflict in the Far North and widespread violence in the North-West and South-West, characterized by war crimes, massive internal displacement, serious human rights abuses by both government forces and armed groups, and critical shortages of essentials including water, food, housing and healthcare. Additionally, dozens of people already deported from the United States have been subjected to serious human rights violations by Cameroonian authorities upon return. 
 
“The Biden administration has promised to make immigration fair and humane and to address racism in U.S. immigration policy. If the idea behind TPS is indeed to afford foreign nationals relief from unsafe conditions in their home country, then it should be that this administration designates Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status,” said Daniel Tse, an asylee from Cameroon who serves as Asylum Task Force and Bail Fund Coordinator at Haitian Bridge Alliance and Founding Member of the Cameroon Advocacy Network. “As we continue to ignore what is happening in Cameroon, the situation continues to worsen every day. In addition to the ongoing armed conflict in the Far North, we have seen the most ignored separate humanitarian crisis in the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions are characterized by widespread violence and human rights abuses by both government forces and armed groups, we have also seen state-sponsored human rights violations, such as restriction of freedom of expression and association. Yet Cameroonians who flee these horrible conditions to seek for safety are being returned to those unsafe conditions. Thus, is of absolute urgency and we are tired of having this conversation. It is time to #DefendBlackImmigrants by granting TPS for Cameroon.” 

The letter can be viewed here: https://rfkhr.imgix.net/asset/2_25-TPS-for-Cameroon-Organizational-Sign-...