WASHINGTON -- Today the YPP and dozens of other local and national organizations sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Nielsen and Secretary of State Pompeo, calling on them to redesignate Yemen for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and to extend TPS for Yemenis in the US. As the letter explains, Yemen first received a TPS designation in September 2015 in response to the war that erupted in 2014. Since the original TPS designation for Yemen and its subsequent extension and redesignation in January 2017, Yemen’s armed conflict and humanitarian crisis have only intensified.
"TPS is a vital, if insufficient, measure to ensure that Yemenis who have fled the horrific conditions in their home country aren't forced to return to a war zone and the world's worst humanitarian disaster," said YPP Executive Director Will Picard. "The United States is fueling the war in Yemen; President Trump has banned the resettlement of Yemeni refugees; and with today's shameful Supreme Court ruling on the Muslim Ban, it remains almost impossible for Yemenis to enter this country. Protecting those who are here is literally the least this administration can do. Cancelling TPS would be unconscionable, and possibly illegal."
The joint NGO letter explains that "the United States is actively engaged in this conflict. Since March 2015, the U.S. has provided material assistance to a Saudi Arabia-led regional intervention, in the form of mid-air refueling, targeting intelligence, and weapons transfers. This support facilitates coalition airstrikes that are the leading cause of civilian casualties in the conflict according to the UN. While the extent to which the United States should support the coalition’s intervention is contested in Congress and among the public, the moral responsibility this involvement places upon the U.S. government is not in question. The United States simply cannot contribute to a conflict engendering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and expel those seeking shelter from its grave consequences."