ENROLLED
       2013 Legislature                                         SM 1478
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                             20131478er
    1  
    2         A memorial to the United States Secretary of Homeland
    3         Security, urging the United States Department of
    4         Homeland Security to create the Haitian Family
    5         Reunification Parole Program.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, on January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a 7.0
    8  magnitude earthquake, which killed 250,000 people and left more
    9  than 1 million homeless, injured, and with limited access to
   10  potable water and food, and
   11         WHEREAS, Haitians residing in the United States,
   12  particularly in Florida, were devastated by the news and were
   13  concerned for the well-being of family members still residing in
   14  Haiti, and
   15         WHEREAS, the President of the United States issued an
   16  executive order to grant temporary protected status to eligible
   17  citizens of Haiti, and, on May 17, 2011, the United States
   18  Secretary of Homeland Security announced the extension of the
   19  temporary protected status for eligible Haitians for another 18
   20  months, and
   21         WHEREAS, human rights advocates have called upon the United
   22  States Department of Homeland Security to use the Immigration
   23  and Nationality Act’s humanitarian parole authority to allow
   24  Haitians who have approved visas to immigrate to the United
   25  States without waiting for extended periods of time, and
   26         WHEREAS, the policy of the United States Citizenship and
   27  Immigration Services has been that family-based immigration
   28  petitioners residing in Haiti must remain in Haiti rather than
   29  in the United States while awaiting their visa priority dates to
   30  become current, and
   31         WHEREAS, there are currently other family reunification
   32  parole programs that authorize applicants for immigration to
   33  join their families in this country, and the purpose of this
   34  memorial is to call for the establishment of a similar program
   35  in support of Haitian immigration applicants to join their
   36  families in this country due to the circumstances in Haiti, and
   37         WHEREAS, the purpose of the Haitian Family Reunification
   38  Parole Program would be to hasten the reunification of families
   39  and discourage Haitian citizens from resorting to illegal and
   40  dangerous means of migration into the United States, and
   41         WHEREAS, the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program is
   42  supported by the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United
   43  States Conference of Mayors, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of
   44  the United States House of Representatives, and six United
   45  States Senators, NOW, THEREFORE,
   46  
   47  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   48  
   49         That the United States Secretary of Homeland Security and
   50  the United States Department of Homeland Security are urged to
   51  create the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program for the
   52  reasons and purposes provided in this memorial.
   53         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   54  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   55  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   56  United States House of Representatives, to each member of the
   57  Florida delegation to the United States Congress, and to the
   58  United States Secretary of Homeland Security.