Originally published December 4 2014
After claiming Ebola is "hard to catch," Obama Administration halts deportations of West Africans
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) It is being touted by the Obama Administration as some sort of humanitarian program, but critics see it for what it really is: just another way to flout U.S. immigration laws.
In a stunning development, the Department of Homeland Security has announced that it is granting temporary protected status to anyone currently residing in the U.S. from the three West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, which have been the hardest-hit by the current Ebola virus outbreak, the worst in the history of the disease since it was identified in 1976. Obama and his team have said that Ebola is hard to catch anyway, so the policy is no big deal.
Apparently, according to a Reuters report, anyone from the three countries can apply for deportation protection as well as work permits for 18 months, a DHS official said.
Reuters further reported:
After 18 months, the Secretary of Homeland Security will assess whether the protection should be extended, based on the level of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
The move is a response to the Ebola epidemic, which has claimed more than 5,000 lives, mostly in the three West African countries.
Criminals can't stay, but how'd they get here to begin with?
In a surprising move, given President Obama's recent executive amnesty -- likely in violation of the Constitution's separation of powers -- DHS said that anyone arriving in the U.S. from the three countries after Nov. 20 would not be eligible for the protected status (though the administration has hinted at bringing Ebola-infected people to the U.S for treatment). Reuters reported that U.S. immigration officials believe that as many as 8,000 people would be eligible to apply for the protection from deportation status.
"The Ebola response in the United States has been front and center in the United States government at high levels," a Department of Homeland Security official told the newswire. "This designation has been part of that constant monitoring, reevaluation and reassessment of the appropriate response."
The U.S. typically reserves temporary protected status to people from countries that are undergoing situations or catastrophes where returning could endanger lives, such as Haiti following a massive earthquake in 2010.
However, unlike some other emergency residency recipients, those protected West African citizens will not be permitted to travel home and then return to the U.S. -- a decision based on concerns that those returning could be infected with the deadly virus that continues to spread (Mali is the latest African country experiencing the spread).
Also, DHS said any nationals applying for the protected status from the three countries must undergo a background check in order to receive permission to stay. Anyone with a criminal history won't be approved, according to DHS officials.
"No" to executive amnesty
That the administration has not made the announcement more widely spread attests to the general public's likely opposition to the decision, especially in light of voters' anger over the president's recent executive order essentially granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.
Exit polls during the Nov. 4 midterm elections showed that the vast majority of voters disapproved of executive amnesty. Breitbart News reported that an "exit poll conducting by Kellyanne Conway's The Polling Company found that three-quarters (74%) of voters believed that 'President Obama should work with Congress rather than around Congress on immigration and separately.'"
In sum, large "majorities of men (75%), women (74%), whites (79%), blacks (59%), and Hispanics (54%)," in addition to tri-partisan majorities of "self-identified Republicans (92%), Independents (80%), and Democrats (51%)," said they didn't want the president to enact executive amnesty via diktat. Just 20 percent of voters said they'd be okay with it.
"The President may be the last person in town to realize how resistant Americans are to him playing the Lone Ranger on amnesty," said the polling memo. "In fact, based on his press conference yesterday, he has either suspended disbelief or has no awareness of how the immigration issue and his threats to act alone contributed to his party suffering massive losses [Nov. 4]."
Learn all these details and more at the FREE online Pandemic Preparedness course at www.BioDefense.com
Sources:
http://www.reuters.com
http://www.breitbart.com
http://www.hngn.com
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml