After last year’s earthquake, the Obama administration allowed Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to apply for Temporary Protected Status. TPS is a temporary visa, and it removes the threat of being deported back to a country that is overwhelmed with rebuilding efforts. But young Haitian immigrants soon discovered the reprieve actually made it harder to pursue their dreams of success in the US.
Haitian high school and college students found themselves in an immigration straightjacket: TPS makes it almost impossible to pay for an American college education.
Why is it so hard to pay for college if you are an immigrant under Temporary Protective Status? And what does this mean for the future of young Haitian immigrants?
In this podcast episode, Fi2W executive producer John Rudolph poses these questions to Martha St. Jean, a Feet in Two Worlds education reporting fellow, and Christina Bonne-Annee, an attorney who has been working with young Haitians under TPS.
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Fi2W podcasts are supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundationwith additional support from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the Sirus Fund, and are produced in association with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and CUNY-TV.