Officials with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Friday that the Biden administration would provide temporary deportation relief and work permits to Cameroonian nationals living in the United States.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the order will become applicable for Cameroonians who live in the United States on April 14 and will remain in force for 18 months. In accordance with the government’s estimates, around 12,000 Cameroonians will qualify for the status.
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President Joe Biden has campaigned for the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which permits immigrants who are unable to return to their home countries safely due to unique circumstances such as armed conflict or natural disasters to stay and work in the United States. TPS permits immigrants who are unable to return to their home countries securely to stay and work in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas highlighted to the continuing crisis in Cameroon as well as an increase in assaults by the Islamist organization Boko Haram in a statement announcing the policy.
Anglophone militants’ use of explosive devices against the French-speaking government in Cameroon’s western regions has increased dramatically in the last year, as has the use of explosive devices against military forces in the area.
A Human Rights Watch research released in February uncovered hundreds of cases of Cameroonian authorities subjecting asylum seekers deported by the US to human rights violations such as arbitrary imprisonment and torture between 2019 and 2021.
Biden, a Democrat, has greatly expanded TPS enrollment, which his Republican predecessor, then-President Donald Trump, had intended to phase down.
