Liberians cheer Obama's stay of expulsion order

Granting a reprieve to Liberian immigrants facing imminent expulsion, President Obama signed an executive order yesterday allowing them to stay in the United States under "temporary protected status" for an additional 12 months.

They were due to leave by March 31.

The Philadelphia metropolitan area, with 35,000 Liberians, has one of the largest concentrations, according to the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas. Most arrived in the 1990s, fleeing civil wars that took thousands of lives.

With democracy taking root in the West African nation since 2006 under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration services, determined that Liberians with temporary protected status had to return.

While the number facing removal was small - about 3,600 out of 250,000 Liberians in the United States - the majority of those affected live in the Philadelphia area, said Anthony Kesselly, president of the Liberian group.

Local immigrant-aid agencies lobbied hard.

"They suffered so long and have been through so much," said Judith Bernstein Baker, executive director of HIAS & Council Migration Service of Philadelphia, one of the groups that met March 11 on Capitol Hill with staffers for Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, and Reps. Allyson Y. Schwartz and Joe Sestak to get the lawmakers to contact the White House.

The advocates included: Philadelphia-area residents Kesselly and Voffee Jabateh, director of the African Cultural Alliance of North American, a social-service agency for African immigrants; Austin Meade and Lasana Koroma of Mayor Nutter's Commission on African and Caribbean Affairs; and Michael Slotznick, a West Chester lawyer and human-rights advocate.

The group carried reports of continuing problems in Liberia and audio interviews with Philadelphia-area immigrants. They stressed that Liberia has remained unstable, with vigilante justice and other ills.

"We are extremely pleased that the president did the right thing for our country and for Liberia," said Baker, adding that the extension would be used to try to gain permanent residency for the Liberians.