TPS Haitian Coalition: Action Plan Proposal
Stanley Lucas:
www.solutionshaiti.blogspot.com
202-256-6026
April 8, 2009
ISSUE
Haitian immigrants are not afforded Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under U.S. immigration policy despite the country’s clear qualification for this protection.
The U.S. State Department warns visitors that there are no "safe areas" in Haiti, and that "kidnapping, death threats, murders, drug-related shootouts, armed robberies, break-ins and carjackings are common."
The U.S. Congress has been receptive and supportive of extending TPS to Haitian immigrants, but the U.S. Administration, specifically the NSC, DOJ, DHS, and State Department have remained entrenched in their position that extending TPS would open the flood gates to Haitian immigration.
It is critical that they understand the facts and history do not support this supposition.
Haiti is not Cuba, a country that regularly manipulates immigration sending tens of thousands of their citizens to the U.S. to pressure the government.
SUSTAINED, ORGANIZED ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN
Haitian Diaspora have a unique opportunity to help our fellow Haitians by organizing to advocate for this meaningful change.
To date, several prominent Haitian Diaspora have made strong individual efforts to advocate for TPS and have organized tremendously successful rallies in key cities.
However, we have not yet coordinated these activities to achieve maximum impact.
By establishing a coalition with a coordinated, targeted and strategic advocacy plan, we would maximize our chances for success.
As many of us know, the most powerful – and listened to – voices in Washington are the ones that band together to advance a common goal, such as the U.S. Chamber on behalf of the business community or AARP on behalf of retired people.
Beyond the immediate goal of securing TPS, this coalition could also take up a more broad policy agenda vis-a-vis U.S. policy toward Haiti.
TPS could serve as the coalition’s banner issue because it presents an opportunity for immediate success; however, this coalition could serve as a platform to provide input into the Obama Administration and Congress as they develop their policy toward Haiti.
Unfortunately, the Haitian Administration has done little to help shape the agenda so there is a clear need for this type of input.
Our goal would be to ensure that the U.S. policy agenda aligns with Haitian priorities – and Haitian realities.
PROPOSED NEXT STEPS
As first step, I propose to reach out to a wide audience of Haitian Diaspora to encourage participation in and support for this initiative.
I have developed extensive email lists for the Haitian Diaspora community so have a strong platform to reach out. In addition, I would be happy to talk about this during my radio interviews and encourage participation and solicit input.
Next, we should develop a first draft of topics to consider for inclusion in a "White Paper" that we could develop on TPS and other issues of importance.
This would essentially be our "core messages" or talking points.
It is important that all the stakeholders hear a coordinated and unified message.
From that point, we should launch an advocacy campaign that would include outreach to the Administration (White House, NSC, DOJ, DHS, and State) as well as further ongoing and sustained outreach to Congress.
Of course, we should also work to place op-eds in major news sources, continue to organize rallies, and find other channels to seek media attention to the issue.
In order to manage this effort, we could develop a core team of people to organize and implement the coalition’s advocacy campaign.
The key task of this team would be to provide structure to our efforts by developing drafts of our core messages and creating a regular mechanism for seeking input into and support for the campaign – perhaps we launch a website or a blog.
These are some initial thoughts about how we could proceed.
Again, a lot of work is being done, but the efficacy of this work is greatly enhanced when we all work together to promote the cause.
I look forward to hearing people’s thoughts on my blog and in my regular radio interviews.
www.solutionshaiti.blogspot.com
Posted by Stanley Lucas 
on 4/27/09 12:35 PM
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