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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 


Sarah Herder
Development and Communications Director
(w) 612-341-3302, ext. 126  
sherder@advrights.org
Robin Phillips
Executive Director
(w) 612-341-3302, ext. 109
rphillips@advrights.org


 
                                                                                           
Liberians Should Stay in the U.S., Report Advises Obama Administration
 
Minneapolis (February 13, 2009) – Dorsey & Whitney, LLP and The Advocates for Human Rights today released a paper highlighting the reasons the United States government should extend Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians, which is set to expire on March 31, 2009. The report, Liberia Is Not Ready 2009: A Report of Country Conditions in Liberia and Reasons the United States Should Extend Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians, recommends that the U.S. government take immediate action to ensure Liberians are not deported.
 
Deferred Enforced Departure allows certain immigrant populations to remain in the United States. When civil war erupted in Liberia in 1989, thousands fled to the U.S., seeking peace and safety. An estimated 3,600 Liberians currently are enrolled in the Deferred Enforced Departure program, allowing them to remain and work in the United States. Unless they are granted an extension, these Liberians will be uprooted and vulnerable to deportation as of March 31, 2009.
 
Although the war ended in 2003 and Liberians elected a new government in 2005, Liberia’s economy, infrastructure, and social services remain devastated. “We need to be concerned about helping solve the problems in Liberia, not adding to Liberia’s challenges and putting people’s lives and health at risk by sending people back,” says Robin Phillips, Executive Director of The Advocates for Human Rights. The majority of the population still lives without clean drinking water, access to health care, or electricity. The adult mortality rate in Liberia averages 537 per 1000 people and life expectancy is 42 years. Of particular concern is the high infant mortality rate in Liberia, which today stands at 157 per 1000 live births, compared to 7 per 1000 live births in the U.S. In addition to serious humanitarian concerns, Liberians who are forced to return will face a devastated school system that does not have the capacity to teach all Liberian children and a rising crime rate exacerbated by an unemployment rate of 85 percent.
 
The 2009 paper updates Dorsey’s earlier report released in August, 2007 on Liberian country conditions. The report examines the most recent accounts of the conditions in Liberia. The findings in the report underscore the vital need for the U.S. to extend DED and to enact legislation allowing Liberians to apply for permanent immigration status in the United States.
 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP is a pro bono partner of The Advocates for Human Rights. Clients have relied on Dorsey (www.dorsey.com) since 1912 as a valued business partner. With more than 650 lawyers in 19 locations in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients' legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world's most successful Fortune 500 companies from a variety of disciplines, including leaders in the financial services, health care, life sciences, agribusiness, technology and energy sectors as well as nonprofit and government entities.
 

The Advocates for Human Rights is a volunteer-based non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of internationally recognized human rights. The Advocates investigates and exposes human rights violations; provides representation to immigrants and refugees who have suffered human rights abuses; trains and assists groups that protect human rights; and works through education and advocacy to engage the public, policymakers, and children about human rights issues. The Advocates for Human Rights holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations.