To: President Donald Trump

White House/DHS Should Reunite Haitian Families!

President Obama:

Please instruct DHS Secretary Napolitano to create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program to mirror DHS's ongoing Cuban program of that name.

112,000 Haitian beneficiaries of DHS-approved family-based visa petitions are on a wait list of nearly three to eleven years in Haiti, where many won't survive given still dire conditions of poverty, cholera, insecurity and political instability.

DHS should begin expeditiously reuniting them with their families here, to save the lives of already-approved but still endangered children and spouses and other close relatives, and to help Haiti recover by creating an additional source of remittances to needy loved ones back home.

DHS has indicated it won't begin expediting the reunification of these families without an instruction from the White House.

Mr. President, please issue that instruction to save lives and to fulfill our commitment to lead in helping Haiti recover!

Supporters include nearly 100 U.S. Congresspersons (nearly all of the Congressional Black Caucus, Republican Senators Scott Brown and Marco Rubio, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Senators Cardin, Durbin, Gillibrand, Kerry, Lautenberg, Leahy, Menendez and Bill Nelson; many others); the Florida State Senate, the New York and Philadelphia city councils, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, that state's Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, ten major editorial boards and many others.

Links to much of the support may be found at http://ijdh.org/projects/immigration#FRPP under "Haitian Family Reunification Program."

Mr. President, please instruct DHS to expeditiously begin reuniting some of these vulnerable and deserving families!

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Why is this important?

The White House should instruct DHS Secretary Napolitano to create a Haitian Family Reunification Program to expeditiously reunite with their families many of the 112,000 beneficiaries of DHS-approved family-based visa petitions who remain on a wait list of nearly three to eleven years in Haiti, where many won't survive. This would mirror DHS's ongoing Cuban program and has broad support because it has precedent and would save lives, help Haiti recover and cost little.