Refugee and immigration advocates cheered the Biden administration’s decision to extend temporary protected status to Ukrainians in the United States, offering them safe harbor from the devastation of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. But that designation has brought about difficult new questions for the administration on its handling of asylum-seekers from other war-torn countries—primarily Cameroon. People fleeing conflict and violence from the Central African country have for five years sought from Washington the same protections that Ukrainians were granted after one week of conflict.
For refugee advocates and human rights activists, the difference between U.S. policy on refugees from Ukraine and Cameroon is a split-screen that encapsulates the Biden administration’s approach to immigration and refugee policies. They argue that U.S. President Joe Biden has been too slow to reverse the crackdown on immigration and refugees from his predecessor Donald Trump’s administration, and say Biden’s rush to extend temporary protected status (TPS) to Ukrainians while still blocking Cameroonians from the same protections point to an inherent racism in U.S. immigration policy.
Ukrainian asylum seekers are exempt from asylum restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Hundreds of them are currently waiting in the mexican city of Tijuana to request protection in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TPS and other humanitarian programs, declined to comment the complaints of racism in American immigration policy.
Furthermore, reports have highlighted the stark differences between the ways African and Middle Eastern refugees from Ukraine have been welcomed into western Europe compared with white Ukrainians. Last month, an alliance of prominent civil rights lawyers from around the world announced it would file an appeal to the United Nations on behalf of Black refugees facing discrimination while trying to flee the invasion.
Meanwhile, immigrant advocates and politicians have consistently called for relief for Black immigrants and refugees in the U.S. In the weeks leading up to the conflict in Ukraine, the U.S. halted deportations to Ukraine and U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., urged the administration in a letter to “extend that same level of compassion” to Haitians in the U.S.
The U.S. has deported more than 20,000 Haitians since September, Pressley and Jones noted in their letter. Cameroonians deported in recent years have reported being raped, tortured, jailed and more.
This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group Blog. If you are in need of legal help, the CIMA Law Group is a law firm in Phoenix, Arizona which possesses expertise in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury,
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