>
> WITNESS IN WASHINGTON WEEKLY
>
> The Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
> March 24, 2009
>
> Support Temporary Protected Status for Haitians
> Deuteronomy 14:27-29 -- Give the Lord Ten Percent of your Harvest
>
> Support Temporary Protected Status for Haitians
> Contact Obama, Napolitano and your Representative now!
>
> Congress established Temporary Protected Status (TPS), to grant
> safety to those foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their
> home country due to ongoing armed conflict or because of an
> environmental disaster. In Haiti, the destruction caused by the
> September 2008 storms Fay, Hanna, Gustav, and Ike has made the safe
> return of Haitian nationals to their country impossible. TPS would
> allow Haitians currently in the U.S. to stay temporarily, as a
> response to the natural disasters and political strife that have
> recently plagued the country. Take Action Now! Clickhttp://
> capwiz.com/pcusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12954456.
>
> Action Needed
> Leave a message on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS)
> public comment line: (202) 282-8495. Ask DHS Secretary Janet
> Napolitano to cease deportations to Haiti immediately and to grant
> Temporary Protected Status to Haitians.
> Leave a message on the White House public comment line: (202)
> 456-1111 or send an email. Ask President Barack Obama to cease
> deportations to Haiti immediately and to grant Temporary Protected
> Status to Haitians.
> Call or email your Representative. Use the Capitol Switchboard:
> (202)224-3121, or send an email. Ask your Representative to
> support the Haitian Protection Act (H.R. 144), which would grant
> Temporary Protected Status to Haitians.
> President Obama and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary
> Napolitano can grant Haitians TPS. If they do not, Congress can
> grant Haitian TPS by enacting The Haitian Protection Act, which
> would provide Haitians in the United States Temporary Protected
> Status (TPS) for 18 months. This would allow the Haitian government
> to respond to the effects of devastating storms and begin
> rebuilding their country. It would also allow Haitians to remain
> with their families and not be subject to deportation, which would
> not only be traumatic for them, but also for the infrastructure of
> Haiti, which is very fragile and cannot handle large numbers of
> deportations.
>
> Click http://capwiz.com/pcusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12954456 to
> send a message to the President and your Representative!
>
> Background
>
> The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
> Affairs (OCHA) reports that 800,000 Haitians are in need of
> emergency humanitarian assistance. The September 2008 storms Fay,
> Hanna, Gustav, and Ike took many lives, destroyed hundreds of
> millions of dollars in crops, and left many of Haiti's 8.5 million
> citizens homeless, without food, water, shelter, or healthcare.
>
> As Haitian President Rene Preval stated in his October 4th plea for
> TPS, for the United States to return thousands of Haitians to Haiti
> under the current circumstances would exacerbate the humanitarian
> crisis and further compound the food shortage and implications of
> Haiti's fragile economy. TPS for Haitians in the United States
> would allow the Haitian government to invest its limited resources
> to rebuild damaged infrastructure and offer emergency relief to its
> suffering citizens.
>
> Haiti's current circumstances fall well within the criteria for
> granting TPS, since it may be granted when requested by a foreign
> state that temporarily cannot handle the return of nationals due to
> an environmental disaster.
>
> Click http://capwiz.com/pcusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12954456 to
> take action.
>
>
> General Assembly Guidance:
>
> That the 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church
> (U.S.A.) do the following:
> 1. Express to the president and Congress of the United States
> the church's concern for the people of Haiti.
>
> 2. Request the president and Congress
>
> a. to address the political and social situation in Haiti with
> the resources available to our nation;
> b. Provide for welcome and relief for Haitian refugees;
> c. Cease the current practice of immediate deportation of those
> who are attempting to escape the horror that exists in that
> troubled country and admit Haitians in temporary protected status.
>
> 3. Call upon the United States government to adopt a Haiti
> policy that is friendly toward the political empowerment of the
> vast majority of Haitian citizens, who are poor, often
> disenfranchised, and systematically excluded from participation in
> political life.
>
> 4. Call upon the United States government to be generous in its
> trade agreements and financial aid to Haiti, providing assistance
> without imposing conditions that are deleterious to Haiti's
> economic health, self-government, and independence.
>
> 5. Give thanks for the life and dignity of all human beings,
> especially those whose condition of poverty and oppression is
> contrary to the will of God as expressed by Jesus Christ, our Lord.
>
> 6. Reaffirm the support of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for
> the right of all people, in particular those of Haiti, to self-
> government and the free exercise of democratic processes without
> interference from other nations, including agents of the United
> States. 997 2006
>
> 7. Reaffirm previous actions taken by the General Assemblies of
> the Presbyterian church in relation to the people of Haiti.
>
> 8. Call on the members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to
> continue to pray and advocate for peace, stability, and justice for
> Haiti and its people.
>
>
>
> Deuteronomy 14:27-29 -- Give the Lord Ten Percent of your Harvest
>
> As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect theem,
> because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.
>
> Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce
> for that year, and store it within your towns; the Levites, because
> they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the
> resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may
> come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in
> all the work that you undertake.
>


Pix Mahler
pix@...
http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/mahlerp.htm
Regional Liaison/PCUSA Haiti Partnership Facilitator
1022 Floyd St.
Lynchburg, VA 24501
434-385-9486

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