Temporary immigrants forge enduring ties

300,000 immigrants from seven countries are here on "temporary" status, even though some have been here 27 years. There should be a way for them to become citizens, they are strangers in their homeland, have jobs, houses and children here. DP

By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff

Gonlakpor Gonkpala was a bright-eyed college student from Liberia when he arrived in the United States in 1982. His stay was supposed to be temporary.
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But with a civil war raging in the West African nation, he and thousands of other expatriates were allowed to remain until it was safe to return home. As the years rolled by, his American life assumed an aura of permanence: He married, honeymooned in the Poconos, had an American son, and bought a sea-green house in Brockton.

Now, Gonkpala's time is up.

His stay of deportation expires in March, and the US government could either force him and 3,500 other Liberians nationwide to go home or grant them another extension under a controversial federal program that is attracting growing criticism on both sides of the immigration debate.

"If I leave here and go to Liberia today I am a stranger," said Gonkpala, a graying 56-year-old parking garage attendant with a weary voice. "I've been here in this country for 27 years, pretty close to half of my life. The only home that I know now is America."

His predicament is shared by more than 300,000 immigrants from seven nations in the United States as a result of the Temporary Protected Status program. It was launched in 1990 to allow immigrants who are already here and whose nations were overwhelmed by war or natural disaster to stay and work here temporarily. It was not meant to lead to citizenship.

Critics say the status often lasts too long, is applied arbitrarily - Hondurans received it after a hurricane, but not Haitians - and at worst, serves as a de facto amnesty for people here illegally.

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, which favors strict limits on immigration, said protection should last no more than six months. "You just can't extend these things forever," he said. "They should send them all home."

Even advocates for immigrants fault the program because it lacks a path to permanent residency. They are pushing for green cards for Liberians, Salvadorans, Hondurans, and others because they have remained so long - and because their nations are racked by unemployment.
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