TACOMA PARK, Md. — Some 5,200 people from Cameroon living in the U.S. had their Temporary Protected Status revoked Aug. 4, ending their legal status, work authorization and protection from deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
TPS is discretionary status with eligibility based on the political priorities of the government in power.
CASA, a national immigrant rights group, is challenging the rulings that ended the protected status for Cameroonians and for some 11,600 Afghanis, whose TPS was terminated July 21. The Department of Homeland Security tried to justify the government rulings, claiming conditions in both countries are “safe enough.”
“We are continuing the fight inside and outside the courtroom to ensure that TPS for these countries is restored, our families are safe and protected, and the Trump administrations unlawful actions do not stand,” said Ama Frimpong, legal director of CASA. “We will continue this fight.”
“If all of sudden you must leave and go back, you don’t know what will happen, and your life might be worthless,” Samuel, originally from Cameroon, who didn’t want to use his last name, told the Militant outside the Red Apple Market, an African food grocery store here.
Since 2016, Cameroon — a majority French-speaking country — has been wracked by fierce fighting between government forces and English-speaking separatists. At least 6,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes.
Government forces have burned villages in English-speaking areas and detained and tortured people accused of having ties to separatist fighters. These forces have killed, kidnapped and terrorized people in the areas they control.
Divisions between English- and French-speaking Cameroonians date back to agreements reached by the British and French colonial rulers in 1919. Originally colonized by German imperialism, Cameroon was handed over to London and Paris after their victory in World War I.
Marie from Cameroon, who also used her first name to avoid victimization, spoke to the Militant in Silver Spring Aug. 3 at a festival held by people from the Ivory Coast. She explained she came to the U.S. three years ago to flee political instability and violence.
In Cameroon she was afraid to travel to different regions, because she spoke English with a French accent, she said. “Many workers didn’t go to work on Mondays, to see how much violence they might face. They would wait to see if it was safe before venturing out for the rest of the week. Maybe things have changed a little, but people still need the TPS.”
On July 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that CASA’s case had merit and urged the lower court to move it forward quickly. But it declined to block the government’s ruling while the case makes its way through the courts.
“Ending TPS is a really hypocritical and painful decision,” Arash Azizzada, an Afghan American activist said at a CASA press conference. “It paves the way for detention and deportation of Afghani newcomers.”
Having TPS does not include a path to a green card or citizenship. It will take a fight for an amnesty for workers in the U.S. without papers to end the second-class status millions of immigrants face and to help unify the working class.