ADC Requests DHS Renewal and Redesignation of Syria TPS
Washington, D.C. | www.adc.org | January 21, 2021 – This morning the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee filed a formal petition with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security requesting redesignation and extension renewal of TPS for Syria.
TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for Syria is currently designated through March 31, 2021, with a deadline of January 31, 2021 for a decision from DHS on renewal and redesignation. It is our position that the circumstances which warranted the initial granting of TPS for Syria in 2012 still exist.
ADC is calling on the Biden Administration to renew TPS for existing beneficiaries and redesignate the status to allow for new applicants to apply. The current TPS designation does not help many of the Syrian nationals who have been forced to flee Syria into the U.S. since the end of August 1, 2016.
Kafr Nabol Surgical Hospital Attack in Syria. Photo courtesy of Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations
With the registration deadline passed, we request renewal and redesignation of Syria for TPS to allow eligible Syrian nationals to register and apply for TPS for the first time.
Syria qualifies for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) because “there is an ongoing armed conflict within the state and, due to such conflict, requiring the return of aliens who are nationals of that state to that state (or to part of the state) would pose a serious threat to their personal safety.”
Additionally, the humanitarian crisis caused by the violence has been compounded by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and lack of medical facilities and treatment in the country. Syria is unable to adequately handle the return of Syrian nationals; and there exist extraordinary conditions in Syria that prevent Syrian nationals from returning to Syria safely.
ADC had been in contact with the Biden-Harris Transition Team regarding this matter. ADC will continue working to ensure that the TPS status for Syria is renewed and redesignated. If you have any questions about TPS from Syria, or other countries, please send an email to legal@adc.org.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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