WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today at the start of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, urging the Biden Administration to protect Black Mauritanians currently under threat of extreme violence by designating Mauritania for Temporary Protected Status (TPS):
“Beginning today, Administration officials will meet with leaders from nearly 50 African delegations at the U.S.-Africa Leader Summit – and as they gather, we reiterate our call for the Biden Administration to designate Temporary Protected Status for Mauritania, which will help ensure that Mauritanians living in the U.S. are protected from being returned to dangerous and life-threatening conditions in their home country. We know that Black Mauritanians face horrifying treatment in their home country, including widespread enslavement and forced statelessness, state-sanctioned violence, and numerous other abuses. Like all people, they deserve to live in safety with their families and in their communities. We urge the Biden Administration to use this week’s summit as a critical opportunity to provide Black Mauritanians with vital protections that they need to live safely in the U.S..”
“The Biden Administration must act quickly to provide life-saving relief for Black Mauritanians in the U.S. through a designation of TPS for the country. Members of Congress and human rights advocates have repeatedly called on the Biden Administration to protect Black Mauritanians in the U.S. beginning with TPS, and previous administrations – including under former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush – have halted deportations to Mauritania due to the continued enslavement of Black people in the country. We’ve seen recently that when they choose to do so, the Biden Administration can take critical steps to advance a humane, safe, and orderly immigration system in the U.S. by announcing TPS designations for other countries facing multiple humanitarian crises, including Haiti, Cameroon, Afghanistan, and Ukraine – and they should do so again here for Mauritania.”
This week, FWD.us launched an ad calling on the Biden Administration to designate TPS for Mauritania – to help protect thousands of Black Mauritanians living in the U.S. who would be at risk of facing widespread race- and ethnicity-based human rights abuses.
Watch the ad here [CW: Please note that this video contains references to violence, enslavement, and other human rights abuses.]