New Path to Citizenship for Liberians

News You May Have Missed: Congress gave 4000 Liberians a path to citizenship in a provision folded into the National Defense and Authorization Act, a $700 billion defense policy bill signed earlier this month. According to the provision, the USCIS is accepting green card applications for Liberians who have lived in the US since November 2014, as well as their spouses and unmarried children. After holding a green card for five years, eligible Liberians can apply for US citizenship.

As Vox explains, civil war drove thousands of Liberians to seek refuge in the US from about 1989 to 2003 under a program known as Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) that gave them temporary protection from deportation. About 4,000 Liberians continue to live in the US with DED status, which Trump threatened to end last year before deciding to extend the wind-down period to March 30, 2020. Liberians have also held other temporary protections over the years, inculding Temporary Protected Status until the Trump administration revoked it in 2017. Most of those with TPS status, however, have since attained DED status.

In an era of deadlocked immigration policy, this marks the first time in decades that Congress has offered a pathway to citizenship to a new group of immigrants.

MHC [H/T Hunter Knapp]