Last week, President Barack Obama signed an order that would allow about 3,600 Liberians to stay in the United States for another 12 months, reports The Associated Press. Since the country’s civil war in the early 1990s, Liberians have had temporary protected status, a designation given to people from countries considered too dangerous to return to. Read more.

Haitians Booted Out
The Obama administration says that it will not stop deporting Haitians, at least not for now. Many advocates for Haitian refugees had hoped that President Obama would have a more lenient policy toward undocumented Haitians than President Bush, but the Department of Homeland Security says it will not stop deporting the group and allow them to legally remain in the United States. “At this time, DHS intends to continue to coordinate the removal of Haitian nationals to Haiti,” wrote Susan Cullen, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Policy and Planning. Members of the south Florida congressional delegation, expressing disappointment with the administration’s position, say they will continue pushing the matter forward. “We obviously have seen that this issue has not moved forward,” said Lale Mamaux, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla).  “They’re bright people. They’re fair people,” said Randy McGrorty, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Legal Services in Miami. “I remain optimistic the policy will change once they understand the need for change.”
 
Afghanistan Region Continues to Claim U.S. Lives
As of Monday, March 9, 2009, at least 589 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, The Associated Press reports, citing Defense Department figures. Of those, the military reports 434 were killed by hostile action, according to AP. In areas outside of the Afghanistan region – in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen – 67 other American military personnel lost their lives to the cause of Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Defense Department. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

Spare Him or Execute Him
Did murderer William Thompson, who has been housed in Florida’s death chamber for the past 32 years, already suffer enough, or does his admittedly heinous crime and initial sentence demand execution no matter how long he’s had to endure the harsh conditions of death-row confinement? U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens believes that his “experience during the past three decades has demonstrated that delays in state-sponsored killings are inescapable and that executing defendants after such is unacceptably cruel.” But in the eyes of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, “It is the crime and not the punishment imposed by the jury or the delay in execution that was ‘unacceptably cruel.’” Review the facts, then weigh in on who you think has a stronger argument. In 1976, Thompson and his co-defendant had held Sally Ivester and another woman in a motel room, demanding money from the victim’s families. The men became enraged when Ivester was only able to raise $25, instead of hundreds of dollars, as she had promised. They brutally beat Ivester, causing internal injuries and burned her with cigarettes. The other woman witnessed the savagery but was spared. The men pleaded guilty, but the Florida high court threw the sentence out because his lawyer had said his life would be spared if he accepted responsibility for the crime. Thompson pleaded guilty once again, only this time he got the death penalty. He then filed a series of appeals, all of which were rejected by one court or another. During a third penalty hearing, Stevens pointed out, five members of a state advisory jury recommended against lethal injection; still, the court imposed death. “As he awaits execution, petitioner has endured especially severe conditions of confinement,” said Stevens, “spending up to 23 hours per day in isolation in a 6- by 9-foot cell. Two death warrants have been signed against him and stayed only shortly before he was scheduled to die. The dehumanizing effects of such treatment are undeniable.”

President Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt, who has been living in Boston despite a deportation order issued four years ago, will remain in the United States, at least until April, CNN reports. Shortly before Election Day, the half-sister of President Obama’s father, Zeituni Onyango, it was reported that her asylum request was denied four years earlier. But a motion to reopen Onyango’s case was granted on Dec. 17, and on Dec. 30 a stay was placed on the order to remove her, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review told the network.  A new hearing in front of a Boston immigration court on April 1. “While she is in proceedings, she can stay in the country,” says Margaret Wong, the attorney representing Onyango. Wong said her client had not received any special treatment in the immigration system. But being the President’s aunt has its perks. Wong says that Onyango had tickets to attend her nephew’s swearing in last week, and attended at least one inaugural ball.

World Lens: The Obama craze is on in Kenya, transgender pageant in the Philippines and Venus Williams faces disappointment in Germany. See photos.
 

Nigerian police raid a baby-selling hospital. Nigerian authorities raided a hospital where they believe newborns were being sold, reports the BBC. They discovered the private hospital when a pregnant 17 year old girl escaped. There are now seven young women, found during the raid, that are now in the government’s care. They were kept in the hospital for months, waiting to give birth. The babies they would give birth to could have been sold for just $127 (or 15,000 naira) to traffickers known for selling children into slavery or prostitution. Police have arrested the hospital’s owners along with two nurses for their connection to the illegal activity. The country, unfortunately, is no stranger to such baby selling schemes, reportedly. Several other such cases have emerged in recent years. Pregnant women, who aren’t married and are living in poverty, are faced with desperate circumstances, reports the BBC. In Nigeria, abortion is illegal for the most part.

Haiti’s president to U.S.: Stop deportation! The president of Haiti, Rene Preval, has asked the U.S. to stop deporting Haitian illegal immigrants, reports the Caribbean News. Instead, he’d like the country to grant them temporary protected status (TPS). The Caribbean nation was already declared the poorest in the western hemisphere before being hit by four consecutive storms that killed 800 people and devastated several towns and infrastructure. Because of the hardships his country is facing Preval told the Americans Conference in Florida that the U.S. would be making a mistake if they continued deporting Haitians. “This is a chance for the U.S. administration to put in place for Haitians, the temporary protected status,” he said at the conference. In addition, even though he already talked to President George Bush about the situation, he will also write him a letter. Two U.S. congressmen from Florida have also been urging Bush to permanently stop deporting Haitians in light of the nation’s difficulties.