Seattle organizations ready to aid Haitians stay in U.S.

Immigrants from quake-ravaged Haiti who are in this country illegally may begin pursuing a little-known status offered by the federal government that would allow them to remain in the U.S. and work here legally.

Some 535,000 Haitian immigrants are believed to be living in the U.S., including about 200 or so in the Puget Sound region. Officials estimate that among them, between 100,000 and 200,000 are eligible for so-called temporary protected status, or TPS, through the Department of Homeland Security.

To qualify for TPS, they must be undocumented and cannot have a felony conviction or more than two misdemeanors. They also must have been living in the U.S. on or before Jan. 12, when the earthquake struck. The status means they cannot be removed from the country and will be given employment authorization so they can legally find work.

The temporary status is valid for 18 months initially, through July 22, 2011, although the U.S. in the past has extended TPS for undocumented immigrants from Central American countries more than a decade after hurricanes devastated their homelands.

In recent days, Puget Sound area agencies working with immigrants and refugees say they have fielded calls from citizens of Haiti who want to apply for TPS.

Bob Johnson, director of the Seattle office of the International Rescue Committee, said the agency has already set up appointments for next week.

"The application itself is routine," Johnson said. "The difficulty will come in proving residency before the 12th. And they have to be able to prove Haitian nationality."

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, an advocacy organization, is also helping local Haitians with TPS applications, Legal Director Matt Adams said. He said the agency has also gotten calls from local attorneys offering their services for free.

"I imagine, given the scale of this tragedy, the government will be extending this more than just a period or two," Adams said.

Those applying for help will have until July 20 to register for TPS.

Sharon Rummery, spokeswoman for Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services, warns eligible applicants to be careful of scammers. Forms for applying for TPS may be downloaded for free from CIS' Web site: http://www.uscis.gov.

"Nobody can guarantee you will be granted TPS, so don't get taken in," Rummery said.

The Obama administration acted quickly in the days after the disaster to extend aid to the people of Haiti — both in the quake-ravaged country and here in the U.S.

Homeland Security immediately halted deportations of all Haitian citizens in the U.S. Officials said they had no Haitian detainees at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

By the end of last week, DHS had announced it would extend TPS to illegal immigrants present in the U.S., and on Monday, it unveiled a new humanitarian policy allowing Haitian orphans eligible for adoption to enter the U.S.

Haiti joins El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan as countries currently designated as eligible for TPS.

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com