Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) has said she will raise her voice for granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to thousands of undocumented Pakistanis living in the United States. Clarke says her support for the move is aimed at helping Pakistan, which has been devastated by the worst floods in almost a century.
She told members of the Pakistani community, while visiting the Chand Raat festival (to celebrate the end of Ramadan) on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, on September 9, that she would take up the issue with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. She promised to keep the Pakistani-American community posted about her efforts.
"A large number of Pakistanis are living in my constituency and they are demanding TPS status; I agree with them," Clark said and added, "I assure them I will do my best in this regard and will get back to the community."
Besides Clarke, New York City Comptroller John C. Liu also showed up to the festival, partaking in of the biggest Muslim celebrations of the year. They greeted the community and mixed with the crowd. Clarke danced along with several youth to the tune of Pakistani drum beats. She also had henna tattoos painted on her both hands. Decorating hands with henna tattoos is a popular traditional fashion in the Pakistani community.
Clarke, who is running for re-election in New York's 11th congressional district, urged the Pakistani-American community to be part of the mainstream political system. "I am a good example of what it means for the immigrant community to participate in the political process. My mother, Una Clarke, was the first foreign-born woman elected as a city councilwoman. I succeeded her in the City Council and later was elected to Congress. All you need to do is to participate," Clarke said.
It may be recalled that the Secretary of Homeland Security can designate a foreign country for TPS status if conditions in the country temporarily prevent their nationals from returning safely or under certain circumstances where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately. USCIS can grant TPS to eligible foreign nationals who are already in the United States. Persons without nationality but who last resided in the country designated for TPS may also be eligible.
The United States government granted TPS to undocumented Haitian nationals in the country after a deadly earthquake killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti, on January 12, 2010. Under the U.S. government decision, Haitians were issued work permits for 18 months.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon considers that the Pakistan's floods were a bigger calamity than the earthquake in Haiti, the 2004 tsunami, and the earthquake that struck Pakistan in 2005.
According to Saleem A. Rizvi, a leading Pakistani-American attorney, floods displaced 20 million people – a number bigger than the entire population of New York State. Saleem Rizvi says TPS status will help several thousand undocumented Pakistanis in the United States visit their families in flood-affected regions or support their next of kin by taking lawful employment.
During recent visits to New York, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Senator Saleem Saifullah Khan, chairman of the Pakistani Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, assured the Pakistani-American community that they would also lobby the Obama Administration for TPS status for Pakistan; however, to date Pakistani officials have not raised the issue with the United States.
Leading members of the Pakistani-American community representing different Pakistan-based political, social, religious and community organizations have become active in the initiative to secure TPS. On September 19, they held an "all-parties conference" to devise a joint strategy to press for TPS for undocumented Pakistanis and formed a 25-member action committee to work on the single agenda of winning TPS for undocumented Pakistanis.
