Staten Island is the unlikely home of “Little Liberia,” where an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 Liberians reside, mostly in the Park Hill area, which encompasses Clifton. There is no one definitive reason for why Liberians chose Staten Island. "One family moved in and their relatives and all of sudden there’s a community," said Jacob Massaqoi, director of African Refuge, a community-based organization that assists Liberians and other immigrants.
Arriving as part of New York City’s first major influx of West Africans in the 1990s, about 1,000 of Staten Island's Liberians are in the U.S. under an immigration provision called Temporary Protective Status (TPS). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services may provide TPS to immigrants in the U.S. who are unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster or other temporary extraordinary conditions. In Liberia’s case it was the bloody 14-year civil war, infamous for its use of child soldiers and murder of more than 200,000 people, which allowed Liberians to be eligible for TPS.
The status was originally set to expire last September because the civil war had ended, but then was extended due to the lack of infrastructure in Liberia. The new expiration date is March 2009. Thus, in six months about 1,000 local Liberians – most of whom have been here for several years at least – will become "unlawful residents," making them vulnerable to be arrested, detained and deported.
“The situation is grave and most think it’s hopeless,” said Telee Brown, vice president of the Staten Island Liberian Community Association (SILCA) and the community's main resource for news on TPS. “People are getting nervous by the day about what’s going to be the result come March.”
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For many Liberians who escaped their country's tumult by coming to Staten Island, the upheaval and violence generated psychological and emotional anguish that resonates anew with the TPS expiration date looming. “The trauma of the war has not even been worked out,” said Massaqoi. “Now they are experiencing another trauma by the fear of being uprooted again after their status expires.”
For the better part of two decades now, Liberians have been settling in Staten Island and considerably impacting the borough. Most have established roots in the community, acquiring houses, starting up businesses, paying taxes and building families. “I’ve been here for so long, almost 20 years," said one elderly woman who came to African Refuge last month for healthcare help and food aid and did not want to give her name. "I don’t mind going back to contribute, but I will be leaving myself behind. There isn’t any work out there. I’m afraid because I come from America I might get robbed or even killed.”
The infrastructure and security in Liberia has been improving since last year. President Bush signed a Memorandum for the Secretary of Homeland Security last September, authorizing "deferred enforced departure" for 18 months (from Oct. 1, 2007, through March 31, 2009) for Liberians who had TPS as of Sept. 30, 2007. The memorandum was enacted after Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf appealed to Congress to permit Liberians living in the U.S. to remain longer to allow more time for the country to recover from the civil war.
