HM 881

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

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.