Leave the US within a year or be deported - Trump tells Liberian immigrants

Leave the US within a year or be deported - Trump tells Liberian immigrants

- Liberian immigrants living in the United States have been asked to vacate the country

- The approximately 3,600 Liberians have been in the US since the civil war in Liberia

- They have been given one year to leave to vacate the US or be deported

Donald Trump has announced his intention to bring an end to a program that has allowed approximately 3,600 Liberians to stay in the U.S. for over two decades, giving them one year from now to leave the country or face deportation.

ABC News reports that this comes as the president and his allies seek to quietly but steadily change immigration in America by reversing previous presidents' executive actions.

An immigrant advocacy group called Trump's move "harsh, cruel, and disgusting."

READ ALSO: My dream to become a politician led me into cultism - Suspect confesses

The program, called Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) is for Liberians who in the past were granted what's called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), after the civil war in Liberia. In 2007, President George W. Bush ended TPS for Liberia, but allowed recipients already in the U.S. to apply for DED instead, an action President Barack Obama renewed throughout his two terms.

That latest renewal was set to expire on Saturday, March 31, and Tuesday, March 27, Trump gave formal notification that he is ending the program and giving recipients one year to leave the U.S. or possibly face deportation.

To critics, the decision threatens to uproot thousands of law-abiding Liberian immigrants who have been in the U.S. for a generation.

"This is home for me, and the thought of leaving my daughter is emotional. I’m pleading with the President and Congress to extend DED," one recipient, Nancy Harris of Alabama — who's been in the U.S. for 18 years with her husband, a pastor -- told reporters Monday.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigeria’s #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, January 16, said he wants immigrants from around the world. He was responding to a reporter who asked if he wanted more immigrants from Norway.

Following a visit by Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, the president allegedly told senators in a private meeting that the U.S. should accept more people from Norway instead of “shithole countries” in Latin America and Africa.

How would you feel if Donald Trump bombed Boko Haram like Syria? On Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng

Online view pixel