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RESOLUTION URGING THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY NOT TO RESUME DEPORTATION OF HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS UNTIL CONDITIONS IMPROVE IN HAITI

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WHEREAS, on January 12, 2010 a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, approximately 10�miles southwest of Port-au-Prince; and
WHEREAS, more than three million people -- a third of Haiti�s population -- were affected by the earthquake; and
WHEREAS, the earthquake was the latest in a series of events that have impacted Haiti in recent years, including four deadly storms that struck Haiti in 2008; and
WHEREAS, even before the earthquake, Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere; and
WHEREAS, in the U.S., no county has a larger Haitian-American community than Miami-Dade County, with Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, having the second largest Haitian-American community and Broward County, Florida having the third largest; and
WHEREAS, shortly after the earthquake, federal officials suspended deportations to Haiti and extended temporary protected status to Haitians in the U.S., allowing them to remain and work; and
WHEREAS, these steps assisted the recovery by allowing Haitians in the U.S. to provide support to Haiti; and
WHEREAS, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently indicated that it would resume deportation of Haitian immigrants in mid-January, 2011, around the one-year anniversary of the earthquake; and
WHEREAS, recent news reports have indicated that ICE has begun rounding�up Haitian�immigrants; and�
WHEREAS, Haiti is currently dealing with a cholera epidemic, political turmoil and a slow reconstruction; and
WHEREAS, a year after the earthquake, an estimated 1.3 million Haitians are still displaced from their homes, the cholera outbreak has killed more than 2,500 people and hospitalized another 58,000, and the preliminary results of last month�s presidential election escalated into violence; and
WHEREAS,�conditions in Haiti have not improved sufficiently from the earthquake for ICE to resume deportations; and
WHEREAS, Haitian advocacy groups�currently are�urging the Department of Homeland Security not to resume Haitian deportations until conditions improve in Haiti; and
WHEREAS, this Board joins these advocacy groups in urging the Department of Homeland Security not to resume deportation of Haitian immigrants until conditions improve in Haiti,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, that this Board:
Section 1. Urges the U.S. Department of Homeland Security not to resume deportation of Haitian immigrants until conditions improve in Haiti.
Section 2. Directs the Clerk of the Board to transmit a certified copy of this resolution to the members of the Miami-Dade Congressional Delegation, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Section 3. Directs the County�s federal lobbyists to advocate for the issue set forth in Section 1 above, and directs the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to amend the 2011 Federal Legislative Package to include this item.