Senators and Congress members in the United States have requested that her President Joseph Biden, issue an immediate 18 months designation of either Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Defersed Enforced Departure (DED) for Cameroon, considering the devastating effects of the socio political crisis reigning in the country.

This is contained in a letter addressed to president Joe Biden dated February 17 2021, by secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the U.S department of Homeland Security in Washington.

According to the letter, Biden’s government unlike her predecessors, must act quickly to ensure protection from deportation of Cameroonian Nationals given the “civil war characterized by; massive internal displacements, war crimes and shortages of essentials like; water, food, healthcare and housing” in the country.

As stated in the release, TPS is a statutory status given to nationals of any country based in US, if conditions in the country make return unsafe. It also provides protection from deportation and permitting victims to work in U.S for the time of designation.
DED on its part provides the president with a vital tool in her foreign policy to protect foreign nationals from civil, political and humanitarian crisis in their home country, making return unsave for them. It doesn’t require registration and is triggered when an individual is due deportation.

Going by some parts of the letter, conditions in Cameroon makes return untenable and warrants immediate protection of Cameroonians living in U.S. It also suggests that civilians in Cameroon are subject to multiple and complex armed conflicts between separities, the Government and Boko Haram Islamic set, characterized by extrajudicial killings, kidnapping, assault, torture and detentions on the vulnerable population.

The covid-19 pandemic it states, has nothing but fueled the violence and humanitarian need in Cameroon. According to the centre of Disease Control and Prevention, Cameron stands tall with a ‘very high level’ of covid-19, as reports of World Health Organization show 73,000 infected cases with over a thousand deaths recorded as of the December 15 2020.

He ended by pleading with the administration to do its part by protecting cameroonian Nationals in U.S from deportation to the worsening violent conditions in Cameroon by designating Cameroon for TPS or DED.

By Nai Vonna