►Government Freezes Haitian Deportations
As an executive order, President Obama, following the exhortation of immigration lawyers and social and religious leaders, including the Archbishop of Miami, decided to include Haitians under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, which
Under this particular application, Haitians are permitted to live and work in the country, similar to temporary worker status, for a minimum of 18 months. These time periods are habitually extended, also by executive order, indefinitely as the situation in such nations remains unhealthy.
►Haitian Evacuation of Orphans Could Mirror Pedro Plan of 1960s
In the 60s, the Archdiocese of Miami and Catholic Charities, with the secret assistance of the US Government, organized a massive immigration and relocation plan for Cuban children known as the Pedro Plan. The Pedro Plan was a humanitarian effort but also was designed to subvert the Castro government by removing a large number of children – over 14,000 – from perceived Communist indoctrination. The operation was entirely funded, in secret, by the US government but operated almost entirely by Florida Catholics.
With this operation as a model, and the experience of dealing with large numbers of children, these same organizations propose to organize a similar mass immigration, this time of Haitian orphans, to the US, with permanent visas expected to be granted by the executive order of President Obama. Catholic Charities, as it did with the Pedro Plan, will house the children and afterwards send them to Catholic orphanages around the US for further care and education. Roman Catholicism has a large presence in Haiti – about 80% of the population are Catholic, for a total of about 10.5 million adherents. Also, caring for orphaned children in the near future by the Haitian government will be nearly impossible given the state of the Haitian infrastructure following the January 12th earthquake. Given these factors, a large scale evacuation could occur very soon.
►Thousands Gather in Pheonix to Protest Arpaio
Mariposa County, Ariz. Sherriff Joe Arpaio came to the forefront of the news again last week when thousands of immigrant activists gathered in central Pheonix, Ariz. to advocate for the removal of the hard-liner Sherriff. The protest, which occurred on the 16th, was briefly interrupted by a clash with police. Towards the end of the protest, police officials told the Washington Post, water bottles were thrown by protestors at police officials who were monitoring the protest. A police officer, unnamed by witnesses, then tried to take away water bottles from the protestors and was violently resisted. The situation appeared to be worsening, so police officials fired pepper spray to break up the conflict.
Sgt. Andy Hill, spokesman for the Pheonix Police Dept., said that the demonstrators who assaulted the police were probably intentionally trying to disrupt the protest by attracting police aggression. The atmosphere immediately following the disturbance was described by a Post reporter as “chaotic”, but no serious injuries occurred.
The protest, until that point, had a peaceful and disciplined tone, which Sgt. Hill noted with appreciation in his remarks when speaking with the Washington Post. There was room for some humor also, as when the protestors began protesting near a local jail, the prison officials on guard, disturbed by the noise, played an album of Grammy Award-winning vocalist Linda Ronstadt, who was one of the protestors.
Arpaio himself, who was not in Pheonix at the time, was dismissive of the protests and remarked that the protestors should blame the administration and the President if they are dissatisfied with immigration law. He is, however, as of last November, barred from enforcing national laws and currently detains and deports individuals solely under his interpretation of Arizona State Law.
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