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Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Calls on the Biden Administration to Immediately Designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon

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Today, on the National Black Immigrant Advocacy Day of Action, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stands alongside our partners at Cameroon Advocacy Network (CAN) to urge President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to immediately designate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroon.

“The Biden administration must take urgent action to protect Black immigrants living in the United States. For far too long, anti-Black racism has plagued our immigration system,” said Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “The U.S. has repeatedly violated its human rights obligations by deporting Cameroonian asylum seekers who were subsequently raped, tortured, and persecuted. Granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will help ensure that 40,000 Cameroonians living in the United States may be spared these horrors.”

Cameroon is in the midst of multiple humanitarian crises and internal armed conflict characterized by massive internal displacement, state-sponsored violence, war crimes, and critical shortages of essentials including water, food, housing, and healthcare. A recent Human Rights Watch report documented how Cameroonian asylum seekers deported from the U.S. were arbitrarily detained, tortured, sexually abused, and assaulted by state agents. These conditions make safe return to Cameroon impossible. The government must act immediately to protect Cameroonians in the US from deportation back to extreme risk of harm.