Liberia is considered a third-world country, lacking reliable basic services such as electricity, education and clean water. “The roads have really improved, and there is potential for entrepreneurship,” said Dr. Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor, the interim director of the Office of International Affairs at North Carolina Central University, who was in Liberia in July. “Overall the security is fine with the UN peacekeepers stationed around the country, but there is a good bit of armed robbery in the city," Oritsejafor said, referring to the capital, Monrovia.
Liberians in New York City on temporary protective status are able to work and receive social services, but they are not on a track to receive permanent resident status. “Some people think that if they get TPS, they are on the road to adjust status to permanent residence. That’s not really the purpose of TPS,” said Tom Shea, director of training and technical assistance at the New York Immigration Coalition. “If someone is otherwise eligible to apply to adjust status that’s fine – but TPS is not an automatic pathway to get a green card.”
~
Some Liberians with resources did file for, and were granted, permanent resident status. But those who didn’t file cite a number of barriers: illiteracy, lack of outreach and information, difficulty producing necessary documents and cost. “I didn’t file because I was going to go back after the war. But it just kept continuing,” said the elderly woman at African Refuge. “Now I can’t afford a lawyer or even a thousand dollars to apply for a green card.”
The options for Liberians who want to adjust their status and legally reside in the U.S. are limited – and time is of the essence. “They should grant Liberians general amnesty. There might not be war, but the country’s infrastructure will not be able to absorb the thousands of returnees,” said Brown of SILCA.
Liberians on TPS may appeal for asylum – as long as they apply within one year of entering the U.S. – but most local Liberian residents have lived here too long to apply. Others are more concerned about how the community will be impacted by expiration of their protective status. “This is going to break up families. It’s going to economically and emotionally strangle this community,” said Massaqoi.
City Councilman Michael McMahon, a Democrat/Working Families member who represents the northern end of Staten Island and is running for Rep. Vito Fossella's seat in the U.S. House, recommends that President Bush grant a further TPS extension. "I was just in the Park Hill neighborhood about a week ago speaking to people about it," McMahon said. "We know that it's an issue, and if elected to Congress, it's something that I'll work on."
McMahon calls the local Liberian community "an integral part of the growing middle class" that should be allowed to stay in its current home. Deportation "will certainly cause a great amount of turmoil in the Liberian community and the greater Staten Island community. That's why we have to work to avoid it."
The Liberian economy today is only half as big as before the civil war. Even the country's largest employer – the government, with 45,000 in the civil service – is starting to cut jobs. “It depends on what the returnee wants to do. If they have some funding and want to start a business, that’s fine,” said Dr. Oritsejafor. “But if they go back thinking they’re just going to find a job with the government, that’s not possible.”
