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Trump Administration Considers Protected Status for Bahamas Residents

VOA News

   U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration is discussing the
   possibly of granting residents from the hurricane-hit Bahamas temporary
   protected status, a short-term permission to reside in the United
   States.

   Trump told reporters at the White House Monday "we're talking to a lot
   of different people" about the issue, however he said the United States
   would need to make sure immigrants from the Bahamas are properly
   documented.

   "We have to be very careful ... I don't want to allow people that
   weren't supposed to be in the Bahamas to come in to the United States,
   including some very bad people and some very bad gang members," he
   said.

   Senators from the state of Florida have been asking the president to
   grant the status to Bahaman residents, a protection that in the past
   has helped people from Haiti, El Salvador and Honduras, which Trump has
   been trying to roll back.

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner Mark Morgan told
   reporters at the White House Monday that the United States is
   expediting its immigration processes for residents of the Bahamas.
   However, he said immigration officials must still vet all immigrants
   for possible threats to national security.

   When asked about an incident Sunday in which hundreds of storm
   survivors were prevented from boarding a ferry in the Bahamas because
   they lacked U.S. visas, Morgan said the situation was a mistake and the
   result of "some confusion." He said "If your life is in jeopardy you
   will be allowed in, if you have documents or not."

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