IPNews-Boston, MA USA – March 27, 2019 : As fears intensifies over a possible deportation of Liberians living in across the United states under the Deferred Enforced Departure Status,reports from Boston suggest that the Trump Administration is fighting a lawsuit filed by some Liberian immigrants to block the end to their Deferred Enforced Departure status which expires later this weekend.
The immigration designation allowed Liberians to apply for and work in the U.S. According to a copy of the brief filed in federal court in Massachusetts by the Department of Justice and seen by West African Journal Magazine, the U.S. Government blasted several non-profits and Liberian DED recipients for waiting until ‘ the eleventh hour to file their lawsuit and motion for injunction and relief.
The law suit was filed this month, almost 1 year after President Donald Trump issued a directive for an end to DED by March 31, 2019.
The suit was filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on behalf of non-profit organizations listed as UndocuBlack Network and African Communities Together and several Liberian DED recipients against President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Plaintiffs, in their lawsuit, alleged that the U.S. President harbors “discriminatory attitudes” toward immigrants of color and that cancelation of the DED designation infringed on the constitutional rights of the recipients to due process and family integrity.
The Attorneys Generals of nine states in the U.S. have thrown their support behind the lawsuit by the non-profits and have since filed a brief with the federal court in which they iterated that, “The amici states have an interest in ensuring these children continue to live in stable loving homes with their parents in our communities, at least until their constitutional rights, and those of their parents are adjudicated…”
But Trump Justice Department, in pushing back against the brief filed in support of the plaintiffs, cited a decision of the U.S. Supremen Court in 2018 of Trump v. Hawaii which upheld the Administration’s third version of a travel ban on several Muslim majority countries. The Justice Department asked the federal court to defer to Trump’s discretion in the execution of foreign policy and immigration issues of the U.S.
In announcing an end to the DED designation for Liberians a year ago, President Trump said in a memo that, “since conditions in Liberia have improved and no longer warrant a further extension of DED, the foreign policy interests of the U.S. call for a wind-down of the program.”
The Justice Department, in defense of the President’s directive cited comments of the UN Deputy Under Secretary General Amina Mohamed last March in Liberia that Liberia had undergone “a remarkable journey transformation”. The U.S. Government lawyers also dismissed plaintiffs claims of racial prejudice as “mere speculation” which has no merit for the injunction that the plaintiffs are seeking.
It is not known if a last minute injunction will be issued against the U.S. Government by the federal court to allow the lawsuit to be heard. Liberians impacted by the end to DED protection and work permits are desperate for relief and have appealed to President Donald Trump for a last minute reprieve and extension to avoid deportation.
Liberia was devastated by back-to-back wars in the 1990s and an Ebola pandemic which killed about 4,000 of its citizens. Basic infrastructures and amenities are still grossly lacking or inadquate and the economy of the West African state is in free fall.
The case is African Communities Together et al. v. Trump et al., case number 4:19-cv-10432, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, USA
