DHS Started Expediting Visa Extensions from Ebola Countries in August

[Miss Annie]

DHS Started Expediting Visa Extensions from Ebola Countries in August


See full article here with embedded links
(http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/10/17/DHS-Started-Expediting-Visa-Extensions-From-Ebola-Countries-in-August)

by Sarah Rumpf 17 Oct 2014, 5:39 AM PDT 716

AUSTIN, Texas -- As Ebola continued to ravage communities in West Africa this summer, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a division under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced "immigration relief measures" for citizens of three countries affected by the deadly virus.

The relief measures, announced on the USCIS website as "Ebola Outbreak-related Immigration Relief Measures to Nationals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone Currently in the United States," on August 15, 2014, include the following:

Change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even if the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
Extension of certain grants of parole made by USCIS;
Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relatives (currently in the United States) of U.S. citizens;
Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate; and
Consideration for waiver of fees associated with USCIS benefit applications.

In short, the USCIS has been waiving fees, expediting the immigration process, and allowing extensions of visas for anyone coming from the three designated Ebola-stricken countries, provided that they are in the United States. The Free Republic blog reported that the law firm of Edward W. Neufville, III, LLC, a Washington, D.C. area immigration firm, added a section to their website two days after the USCIS announcement, with more details about how these relief measures would work, including extensions of the time that the foreign national could remain in the United States, additional work permit opportunities, and even forgiveness for failure to appear at required interviews or submit required evidence. According to the Neufville firm, the new USCIS policies mean that "[i]ndividuals from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea currently in the United States may apply for an extension or change in status due to the Ebola Outbreak, even if their request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired." Otherwise stated, this means that someone from one of those countries who illegally overstayed their visa can now apply for an extension, or someone who arrived illegally can apply to get legal status.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died from Ebola earlier this month, had traveled to the United States after his visa was approved in August, the same month that USCIS announced the new relief measures. One of the concerns many have had about the Ebola crisis is the lure those in the affected countries would -- quite understandably -- feel toward the advanced sanitation standards and medical care available in American hospitals, similar to how open borders, social services, and in-state tuition have been criticized as creating "magnets" for immigrants to illegally cross the U.S. - Mexican border. These specific USCIS policies do not apply to those who are not yet in the United States and are seeking a visa to leave Guinea, Liberia, or Sierra Leone, but the more generous rules that await them once they arrive likely create further incentives for them to attempt to travel here.

According to the Washington Post, the number of visas issued to Liberians by the United States has spiked, with about 3,500 visitor visas granted to Liberians last year, and another 10,000 granted to people from Guinea and Sierra Leone during that same time period. The Post also reported that Liberians also have a very high rate of "visa overstays,"the fifth highest after Cuba, Burundi, Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to immigration expert Jessica Vaughn with the Center for Immigration Studies. Vaughn has sharply criticized the Obama administration's immigration policies regarding Ebola, noting that Kenya and other African countries have closed their borders to any travelers from Ebola-afflicted areas.

The Associated Press reported more details Thursday about efforts in Africa to halt the spread of Ebola, including how Senegal and Nigeria successfully isolated Ebola patients and imposed travel restrictions so as to eliminate the disease in their countries, with no new cases since August. Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal, which share a border with at least one of the three Ebola-afflicted countries covered in the new USCIS policies, have all closed the borders that they share with these nations. In addition to Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe have imposed a variety of travel restrictions, airport screening procedures, and quarantine rules.

So far, despite rising outcry as each new Ebola case has been announced, the Obama administration has been unwilling to impose travel restrictions from the Ebola-affected countries.

[Dr.3D]

Now one has to wonder why they would do such a thing. It sure looks like they are trying to get an Ebola outbreak in the United States.

[Philhelm]

Now one has to wonder why they would do such a thing. It sure looks like they are trying to get an Ebola outbreak in the United States.

Actually, from this article it seems that the government is being lenient in allowing people from certain African nations, who are already in the U.S., to remain within the U.S. due to the Ebola outbreaks in their home countries.


Change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even if the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
Extension of certain grants of parole made by USCIS;
Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relatives (currently in the United States) of U.S. citizens;
Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate; and
Consideration for waiver of fees associated with USCIS benefit applications.

[Miss Annie]

Now one has to wonder why they would do such a thing. It sure looks like they are trying to get an Ebola outbreak in the United States.

If they can't take us because we have too much fight, then they must take the fight out of us?

[thoughtomator]

Now one has to wonder why they would do such a thing. It sure looks like they are trying to get an Ebola outbreak in the United States.

What Obama did with the last surge of illegal aliens was exactly what someone intending to start an epidemic would do, distribute unscreened sick kids to schools all around the country and don't warn anyone of their arrival.

[navy-vet]

Whatever is going on it is becoming frighteningly obvious that the welfare of the American people is not of paramount importance to this administration.:(

[Pericles]

Whatever is going on it is becoming frighteningly obvious that the welfare of the American people is not of paramount importance to this administration.:(

Comrades, there are no coincidences. - Stalin

[Dr.3D]

Whatever is going on it is becoming frighteningly obvious that the welfare of the American people is not of paramount importance to this administration.:(
It's obvious, they would rather see more people on welfare.

[donnay]

It's obvious, they would rather see more people on welfare.

Yes, sort of. This is a deliberate thing because it can circumvent the Constitution. If states declare "National State of Emergency" those "Emergency Powers" completely run roughshod over the Constitution. Connecticut (http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Connecticut-Governor-Declares-State-of-Emergency-Over-Ebola-as-a-Precaution-278380851.html) did it last week.

If people want to know how they will come for your guns, this is the simplest way.

I do not particularly care for this website and forum, but every once in a while someone with good intel coherently posts. http://tinyurl.com/kac5jdb

H/T: Effie Trinket

[lilymc]

I'm not sure what to make of all of this yet.... but this is interesting:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP6qMY1_6dg

[CPUd]

I'm not sure what to make of all of this yet.... but this is interesting:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP6qMY1_6dg

I think she is reading too much into it. Awareness campaigns use language like that because so often, especially with diseases, people unaffected tend to more look more at statistics than the human element.

[lilymc]

I think she is reading too much into it. Awareness campaigns use language like that because so often, especially with diseases, people unaffected tend to more look more at statistics than the human element.

You may be right. But did you watch the whole thing? Her point was that people in Africa don't believe it's real. And if what she said is true, then that is odd, because if it really was an epidemic and people in Africa were dropping dead in the streets... wouldn't Africans believe it's real, through word of mouth?

[Pericles]

This is an admission that border security s so bad that the only chance there is to find out who came into the country form Africa is to allow direct flights from there.

[Antischism]

You may be right. But did you watch the whole thing? Her point was that people in Africa don't believe it's real. And if what she said is true, then that is odd, because if it really was an epidemic and people in Africa were dropping dead in the streets... wouldn't Africans believe it's real, through word of mouth?

More often it's the simplest explanation:


Cynicism toward government has a long and justified history in West Africa — Liberia consistently receives poor marks for its record battling corruption, and Guinea recently cancelled an iron mining contract worth billions of dollars after watchdog groups uncovered evidence of massive bribery. “People's thinking is that the whole situation is being made up by the government to get money from the international community,” says Daniel Krakue, a Liberian community rights advocate who frequently travels to remote parts of the country. “There is a whole lot of skepticism about the central government in rural areas, especially in terms of providing health services.”


According to Nyenswah, rural belief in juju — West African magic — is also contributing to the challenges officials face. “Some people believe there is a curse that is causing the problem, and that there is nothing called Ebola.”

Krakue agrees. “People don’t know what the sickness is, and they prefer to go to the traditional healers," he says. "They feel that they have been bewitched.”

https://news.vice.com/article/why-dont-west-africans-believe-ebola-is-real

Lack of proper education in the region plays a role too, I would imagine.


As for the OP, I'm not seeing how that suggests anything nefarious is going on. It's Breitbart being Breitbart, basically.