Expelling Liberians Not the Answer

Guest blogger Michele Garnett McKenzie is Advocacy Director for the Advocates for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of internationally recognized human rights.

Michele and her colleagues have been working closely with the Liberian community in the U.S. as the endpoint of temporary status set by George W. Bush approaches. Visit the Advocates' website to find out how you can help extend temporary status for Liberians.

The clock is ticking for Liberians. On March 31, deferred enforced departure (DED) for Liberians expires. With it ends a temporary protection first extended by the United States to Liberians 18 years ago, along with permission to remain and work in the U.S. (Kind of makes you wonder about what temporary means, doesn't it?). Liberians here in the U.S. on DED aren't ready to return en masse to Liberia. They've spent nearly two decades lawfully present in the U.S. without any path to permanent residence through our labyrinthine immigration system. Their roots in the U.S. have grown deeper every year as the mortgage payments are made, the careers advance, the small businesses prosper, and the U.S. citizen kids get older.

But a DED designation - like immigration policy itself - isn't really about the people affected and what makes them safe, free, or happy, is it? The power to designate deferred enforced departure is part of the President's foreign policy power. So the real question is what's the impact of extending DED to Liberians?

Let's take a look at the situation in Liberia. In 2003 a peace agreement ended the most recent outbreak of brutal fighting throughout the country, creating a truth and reconciliation commission and resulting in the democratic election of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Sounds good, right? But the transition to peace is neither quick nor easy.

Liberia is recovering from years of conflict characterized by egregious violations of human rights that created the Liberian diaspora. From 1979 until 2003, the Liberian people survived a bloody coup d'état, years of military rule, and two violent civil wars. The atrocities were the result of complex historical and geopolitical factors. The slave trade, U.S. efforts to return slaves to Africa, the abuse of the indigenous population by a ruling oligarchy, the looting of the country's natural resources by its own corrupt government and by foreign interests, and the political ambitions of other African leaders all contributed to the conflict. Using inhuman tactics, key individuals and their supporters seized upon the chaos and strife in Liberia to gain power and to amass wealth. The international community, including the United States, failed to take effective action to limit the bloodshed.

The violence finally ended in 2003, but the peace remains fragile. The conflict's impact is evident in the streets of Monrovia and the homes of villagers in the Liberian countryside. Only 15 percent of Liberians are employed in the formal sector. As of 2006, over 76 percent of Liberians lived below the poverty line (less than US $1 per day) and 52 percent lived in extreme poverty (less than US $0.50 per day). The vast majority of Liberians can't find work to support themselves or their families. Liberia's illiteracy rate is estimated to be over sixty percent, and the school system's capacity is far below the needs of the population.

According to the Liberian government, only about 41 percent of the population had access to health services in 2006, with many people in rural areas walking up to seven or eight hours to reach a health care facility. In working with one asylum seeker, who suffers from kidney disease, we learned there are no dialysis machines in the entire country. There are not enough hospital beds to treat the population, and inadequate access to care for pregnant mothers contributes to the maternal mortality rate of 994 deaths per 100,000 lives births. One in five Liberian children will not live past age five.

Liberia's infrastructure was almost completely destroyed during the war. Liberians cannot flush their toilets. There is no garbage removal or sewer system. Most Liberians do not have access to safe drinking water. In 2005, 24 percent of Liberian households had access to clean drinking water and estimates are that safe drinking water is currently accessible to only about one third of the population. There are ten working streetlights in Monrovia, and school kids gather under these after dark to study because there aren't lights in their homes.

The security situation in Liberia remains precarious. Law enforcement and military officials continue to be regarded with fear, rather than as a source of protection. This is no surprise - Chuckie Taylor, son of former president Charles Taylor, recently was sentenced in U.S. federal court to 97 years in prison for the torture he committed in his role as Liberian security forces chief. Crime, including mob justice and random violence, has become a major national security concern. Rape and sexual violence, especially the rape of girls, remains a serious problem. According to police statistics rape is the most frequently reported crime.

With the Liberian economy in tatters, money from relatives living in the U.S. is literally a lifeline. Net remittances to Liberia, according to the Central Bank of Liberia, were $54.2 million in 2006. This accounts for at least one-fifth of Liberia's income. As Donald Steinberg, president of the International Crisis Group points out, official development assistance is expected to take as much as a 30 percent hit in 2009 as a result of the global economic crisis. Remittances will be essential to keeping Liberia from slipping even farther down the economic ladder.

So, is Liberia ready for the end of Deferred Enforced Departure and the expulsion of thousands of Liberians on March 31? Not a chance.

And that brings us back to those Liberians who've lived under U.S. protection since 1991. The President's foreign policy power is about more than state-to-state relationships. It involves consideration of humanitarian issues and of how best to bring much-needed foreign aid to countries in need of assistance. Most importantly, good foreign policy is based on respect for the human rights - really, the human dignity - of those involved. Mass deportations to Liberia at the end of this month would signal to immigrants in the U.S. and people around the world alike that human rights isn't part of the foreign policy equation in the Obama administration. That's not a message to send today.

Get more information about the current situation in Liberia from the report "Liberia is Not Ready: 2009" (pdf) prepared by the Advocates for Human Rights and law firm Dorsey and Whitney.