Van Hollen, Lofgren, Johnson Lead Call for Administration to Re-Designate TPS for Cameroon

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Congressman Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) were joined by over 25 of their colleagues in calling on U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to extend and re-designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon. TPS is designated for countries that are deemed unsafe for their citizens to return due to extraordinary circumstances such as war, civil unrest, or natural disaster, allowing those countries’ nationals that are already in the U.S. to live and work here on a temporary basis. Cameroon has an active TPS designation that is set to expire in December of this year. In their letter, the lawmakers call on the Biden Administration to renew and re-designate TPS for Cameroon in order to protect the more than 20,000 Cameroonians estimated to be living in the U.S. currently – which includes many who arrived after the original TPS declaration was made – so they are not forced to return amid political instability, violent crime, and serious human rights abuses in the country.

“We urge the Department of Homeland Security (Department) to issue an 18-month extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon, which will expire on December 7, 2023. The Department determined that the designation was warranted because of ongoing armed conflict and the extraordinary and temporary country conditions, including violence against civilians, widespread internal displacement, heinous war crimes, and acute shortages of vital necessities that render safe return impossible. The devastating consequences of the civil war in Cameroon have persisted since the initial designation,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Cameroon continues to grapple with the very same issues the Department highlighted last year in the initial notice of designation. Regrettably, the situation has deteriorated as armed violence persists, and the latest peace process remains at a standstill,” they continued. “Deportees from the U.S. are at particular risk of being targeted for actual or alleged opposition to the government, and they have experienced arbitrary detention and other abuses upon return.

“A TPS extension and re-designation for Cameroon would serve as a key and strategic part of the U.S. government’s commitment to human rights and international stability. Re-designating TPS also would allow additional Cameroon nationals to apply for TPS for the first time. An estimated 21,000 Cameroonians currently living in the U.S. would benefit. Safeguarding Cameroonians in the U.S. from a return to these dangerous conditions is urgent and necessary,” the lawmakers concluded.

Senator Van Hollen, Congresswoman Lofgren, and Congressman Johnson were joined on this letter by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have also signed the letter are Representatives Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), David Trone (D-Md.), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.). 

Full text of the letter can be viewed here and below.

Dear Secretary Mayorkas:
 
We urge the Department of Homeland Security (Department) to issue an 18-month extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon, which will expire on December 7, 2023. The Department determined that the designation was warranted because of ongoing armed conflict and the extraordinary and temporary country conditions, including violence against civilians, widespread internal displacement, heinous war crimes, and acute shortages of vital necessities that render safe return impossible. The devastating consequences of the civil war in Cameroon have persisted since the initial designation. 
 
Cameroon continues to grapple with the very same issues the Department highlighted last year in the initial notice of designation. Regrettably, the situation has deteriorated as armed violence persists, and the latest peace process remains at a standstill. The number of Cameroonians in need of humanitarian assistance has grown since 2022. The United Nations estimates that 4.7 million people (or one out of every six people) in Cameroon are affected, marking a 20 percent increase from 2022. Due to the heightened risk of armed violence, kidnapping, and overall crime, the U.S. State Department has issued “Do Not Travel” advisories for six regions in Cameroon. In its most recent human rights report, the State Department has highlighted a disturbing array of “significant human rights abuses.” These include extrajudicial killings, government and non-state armed groups engaging in torture, arbitrary detentions, substantial infringements on the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, impediments to citizens’ ability to peacefully change their government through free and fair elections, ethnic violence, and targeted violence against LGBTQ community members. Deportees from the U.S. are at particular risk of being targeted for actual or alleged opposition to the government, and they have experienced arbitrary detention and other abuses upon return. 
 
A TPS extension and re-designation for Cameroon would serve as a key and strategic part of the U.S. government’s commitment to human rights and international stability. Re-designating TPS also would allow additional Cameroon nationals to apply for TPS for the first time. An estimated 21,000 Cameroonians currently living in the U.S. would benefit.

Safeguarding Cameroonians in the U.S. from a return to these dangerous conditions is urgent and necessary. 
 
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter. 
 
Sincerely,