A bill introduced in the outgoing U.S. congress last year seeking TPS status for undocumented Pakistanis is dead after the completion of tenure of the 111th Congress. Thus the end of term for 111th Congress has dampened the hopes of several thousand undocumented Pakistanis in the United States who were upbeat about its passage. However, the TPS Action Committee, a body of Pakistani community activists, which has been pressing the Obama administration to give TPS status to undocumented community members, says that it will not abandon its efforts.
A banner at the Pakistani community meeting venue demands TPS for undocumented Pakistanis. -- Photo by Mohsin Zaheer
Pakistani community activists say TPS will enable several thousand undocumented Pakistanis to provide better support their families back home who last year were devastated by the worst floods in a century, which killed over 1,800 people, marooned one-fifth of the country for several months, destroyed millions of acres of standing crops, decimated communities across the country and displaced 20 million people. The United Nations reports that the Pakistani floods were a bigger natural disaster than the deadly earthquake in Haiti.
After the failure of TPS initiative in Congress, the Pakistani TPS Action Committee is now asking the Obama Administration to give the protected status to Pakistanis through an executive order.
Temporary protected status (TPS) is an immigration status for foreign nationals residing in the United States whose home countries are temporarily unsafe or overly dangerous. Situations that can make a country unsafe and lead to temporary protected status include: wars, political turmoil, earthquakes, floods, or other natural disasters.
During his visit to Washington last October, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi raised the TPS issue during a joint press conference with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Although Secretary Clinton did not respond to the Pakistani Foreign Minister's demand at the press conference, several Pakistani officials assure the Pakistani-American community that they are discussing the issue with U.S. officials. However, no visible progress has been made on the issue ever since.
Meanwhile, the TPS Action Committee, which has been reaching out to the elected officials for their help, invited Congresswoman Yvette Clark (D-NY-11) to a meeting held at a restaurant on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, also known as "little Pakistan," on Friday, January 7. Though the Congresswoman could not attend the meeting due to scheduling conflicts, she addressed the committee members over telephone and assured them of her support of their efforts to secure TPS for undocumented Pakistanis.
Members of TPS Action Committee deliberate their strategy at a meeting in Brooklyn on January 7th. -- Photo by Mohsin Zaheer
The committee urged Congresswoman Clarke to use her good offices in convincing the Obama administration on the issue. The meeting also decided to take up the issue with President Asif Ali Zardari during his upcoming visit to Washington. During his stay in the United States, the Pakistani President will also attend the funeral of President Obama's Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, on Friday, January 14th. Mr. Holbrooke died on December 13, 2010, after suffering a tear in his aorta, the body's principal artery.
