Caribbean Update

Africa, Caribbean moving for closer ties

By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

Caribbean Community nations and Africa have been talking about formalizing trade and other ties for decades, but delegates who attended a three-day forum in Barbados last week now say there is no turning back and that direct air routes bypassing transit through the U.S. and Europe, especially, will soon become a reality.

More than 1,000 people from across the region had registered to attend the AfricaCaribbean trade investment forum last week, and of this number, more than 120 had chartered an Ethiopian Airlines plane to bring them out of the assembly point, Nigeria, non-stop to Barbados in less than seven hours.

Because there are no nonstop or direct air routes between the Caribbean, Northern South America and Africa—despite the relatively close proximity of the landmasses—travelers must take a flight to the U.S., Canada, The Netherlands or Britain, then come all the way back down south to the continent instead of simply flying east across the Atlantic in less than seven hours. Forcing travelers to transit Europe and the U.S. is one of the worst legacies of the colonial era, several delegates told the conferences.

For example, Senegalese Economy Minister Amadou Hott complained that it took him more than a day to reach the Caribbean’s most easterly island and one of the closest across the Atlantic to Africa, because he had had to transit Europe. Delegates such as host Prime Minister Mia Mottley say this cumbersome and expensive travel route will soon be eliminated or minimized.

Additionally, Mottley and the group of about six regional leaders who had attended the forum, say they are also ready to help Africa’s ExportImport (Exim) Bank to establish a branch in Barbados with the same diplomatic immunities and privileges as enjoyed by the umbrella Caribbean Development Bank. The bank could play a role in getting an air service going. “The reality is that we have started more serious conversations than I have seen before. As recently as Thursday evening my minister of tourism and international transport met with a number of people from the bank and from other countries. We are trying to see how best we can create a framework that will allow for charters first, if necessary. Barbados has indicated that we are prepared to work with one or two African countries to be able to comarket because you have to be able to sustain the traffic. So, I am hopeful that within a few months we can make a reality of this pipedream that has been spoken about,” PM Mottley said.

No start-up date for the first charter has been noted but Exim Bank President Benedict Oramah says that not only could financing come from his agency for an air travel service, but African commercial banks might well be interested in setting up shop in the region. “And you have a bank like Afreximbank that says good ideas that come, we are not going to use the standard ways of assessing their credit.” Lined up, meanwhile, as possible carriers are RwandAir, Etihad Airways, Ethiopian Airways, and Kenya Airways, says Barbadian Transport Minister Lisa Cummins. “We have already signed air services agreements with Kenya and Ghana. We should be signing further air services agreements with our partners as we move forward, and that in itself will then lend to negotiations with our commercial partners,” she said as hope for an end to intransit travel via the west soars.

The forum was a follow-up to the first Africa-Caribbean summit that was held virtually last September. Leaders back then had vowed to ensure formal relations are established, even asking the African Union to help them fight former European slave trading nations for reparations.

Not to be excluded from current plans are media exchanges with the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation receiving a mandate to liaise with African television stations to exchange programs. African music and Nollywood sitcoms and movies are growing in popularity in the Caribbean.

Here’s what Liberians need to know about that Deferred Enforced Departure memo and employment authorization

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will on Sept. 6 publish a Federal Register notice for the exten-

sion and expansion of eligibility for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians. This relates to the June 27 memorandum by President Joe Biden that extends and expands DED for Liberians for 24 months.

Eligible Liberian nationals covered under DED as of June 30, 2022, may remain in the United States through June 30, 2024. The president’s memorandum also defers the removal of any Liberian national, or individual without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia, who has been continuously physically present in the United States since May 20, 2017, and who meets DED eligibility criteria.

There is no application for DED. Liberians covered under DED are authorized to work in the United States. Eligible Liberians covered by the memorandum may apply for an EAD by filing Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. DHS may provide travel authorization at its discretion to those covered under Liberian DED. Individuals who wish to travel outside of the United States may file Form I-131, Application for Travel Document.

The memorandum also extends employment authorization for individuals covered under DED Liberia through June 30, 2024. USCIS is automatically extending the validity of Liberian DED-related EADs through June 30, 2024, for those who already have an EAD with a Category Code of A-11 and a Card Expires date of March 30, 2020; Jan. 10, 2021; or June 30, 2022. These EADs remain valid, even though their facial expiration date has passed.

This now allows eligible Liberians to apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) that will allow them to work legally in the U.S.

Since 1991, the United States has provided safe haven for Liberians who were forced to flee their country as a result of armed conflict and widespread civil strife, in part through the grant of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The armed conflict ended in 2003, and TPS for affected Liberian nationals ended effective October 1, 2007. President Bush then deferred the enforced departure of those Liberians originally granted TPS. President Obama, in successive memoranda, extended that grant of DED to March 31, 2018. President Trump then determined that conditions in Liberia did not warrant a further extension of DED, but that the foreign policy interests of the United States warranted an orderly transition period for Liberian DED beneficiaries. President Trump later extended that DED transition period through March 30, 2020. In December 2019, the Congress enacted the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which included, as section 7611, the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) provision. The LRIF provision, with limited exceptions, makes Liberians who have been continuously present in the United States since Nov. 20, 2014, as well as their spouses and children, eligible for adjustment of status to that of lawful permanent resident (LPR) or green card holder.

The NDAA gave eligible Liberian nationals until Dec. 20, 2020, to apply for this adjustment of status. After the enactment of the LRIF provision, President Trump further extended the DED transition period through Jan. 10, 2021, to ensure that DED beneficiaries would continue to be eligible for employment authorization during the LRIF application period.

The LRIF application process was new and complex, resulting in some procedural and administrative challenges. Recognizing these difficulties, the Congress enacted a 1-year extension to the application period in section 901 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. That legislation, however, did not provide for continued employment authorization past Jan. 10, 2021.

Through the Biden memorandum of Jan. 20, 2021 (Reinstating Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians), DED was subsequently reinstated through June 30, 2022, in order to permit employment authorization for eligible Liberians while they made their applications for adjustment of status under the LRIF provision.

The administration determined that there are compelling foreign policy reasons to extend DED for an additional period for those Liberians presently residing in the United States who were under a grant of DED until June 30, 2022, as well as to defer enforced departure for Liberians who have been continuously present in the United States since May 20, 2017. In addition to updating the continuous presence requirement, the president also determined that it is appropriate to include qualifying Liberians whose LRIF applications have been denied for reasons other than ineligibility under sections 7611(b)(1)(C) and (b) (3) of the NDAA in this DED designation.

This includes providing protection from removal to those who arrived in the United States during a time when conditions prevented them from returning safely, including through May 20, 2017, and have since established family and community ties in the United States.

“Providing protection from removal and work authorization to these Liberians, for whom we have long authorized TPS or DED in the United States, including while they complete the LRIF status-adjustment process, honors the historic close relationship between the United States and Liberia and is in the foreign policy interests of the United States,” President Biden said at the time.

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