9530 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 29 / Tuesday, February 16, 2021 / Notices 

or to request special assistance at the 

meeting, please contact NIAC@

cisa.dhs.gov by 5:00 p.m. EST on 

Monday, March 1, 2021. 

Rachel Liang, 

Designated Federal Officer, President’s 

National Infrastructure Advisory Council, 

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security 

Agency, Department of Homeland Security. 

[FR Doc. 2021–02981 Filed 2–12–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–9P–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

Services 

Reinstating Deferred Enforced 

Departure for Liberians 

AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and 

Immigration Services (USCIS), 

Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS). 

ACTION: Notice. 

A ‘‘Memorandum on Reinstating 

Deferred Enforced Departure for 

Liberians’’ was issued by President 

Biden on January 20, 2021. The 

President determined that it is in the 

foreign policy interests of the United 

States to reinstate Deferred Enforced 

Departure (DED) for Liberians through 

June 30, 2022. The President directed 

the Secretary of Homeland Security to 

extend DED for eligible Liberians 

currently covered under DED and to 

provide for continued work 

authorization through June 30, 2022. 

The President further authorized and 

directed the Secretary of Homeland 

Security to publish this memorandum 

in the Federal Register. The text of the 

memorandum (published January 25, 

2021, at 86 FR 7055) is set out below. 

Tracy L. Renaud, 

Senior Official Performing the Duties of the 

Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

Services. 

Memorandum on Reinstating Deferred 

Enforced Departure for Liberians 

Since 1991, the United States has 

provided safe haven for Liberians who 

were forced to flee their country as a 

result of armed conflict and widespread 

civil strife, in part through the grant of 

Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The 

armed conflict ended in 2003, and TPS 

for affected Liberian nationals ended 

effective October 1, 2007. President 

Bush then deferred the enforced 

departure of those Liberians originally 

granted TPS. President Obama, in 

successive memoranda, extended that 

grant of Deferred Enforced Departure 

(DED) to March 31, 2018. President 

Trump then determined that conditions 

in Liberia did not warrant a further 

extension of DED, but that the foreign 

policy interests of the United States 

warranted affording an orderly 

transition period for Liberian DED 

beneficiaries. President Trump later 

extended that DED transition period 

through March 30, 2020. 

In December 2019, the Congress 

enacted the National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 

(Pub. L. 116–92) (NDAA), which 

included, as section 7611, the Liberian 

Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) 

provision. The LRIF provision, with 

limited exceptions, makes Liberians 

who have been continuously present in 

the United States since November 20, 

2014, as well as their spouses and 

children, eligible for adjustment of 

status to that of United States lawful 

permanent resident (LPR). The NDAA 

gave eligible Liberian nationals until 

December 20, 2020, to apply for this 

adjustment of status. After the 

enactment of the LRIF provision, 

President Trump further extended the 

DED transition period through January 

10, 2021, to ensure that DED 

beneficiaries would continue to be 

eligible for employment authorization 

during the LRIF application period. 

The LRIF application process was 

hampered by a slow launch, 

cumbersome procedures, and delays in 

adjudication. Recognizing these 

difficulties, the Congress enacted a 1- 

year extension to the application period 

in section 901 of the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116– 

260). That legislation, however, did not 

provide for continued employment 

authorization past January 10, 2021, the 

expiration of the most recent DED 

transition period. 

There are compelling foreign policy 

reasons to reinstate DED for an 

additional period for those Liberians 

presently residing in the United States 

who were under a grant of DED as of 

January 10, 2021. Providing work 

authorization to these Liberians, for 

whom we have long authorized TPS or 

DED in the United States, while they 

initiate and complete the LRIF statusadjustment process, honors the historic 

close relationship between the United 

States and Liberia and is in the foreign 

policy interests of the United States. I 

urge all Liberian DED beneficiaries to 

apply promptly for adjustment of status, 

and I direct the Secretary of Homeland 

Security to review the LRIF application 

procedures administered by United 

States Citizenship and Immigration 

Services to ensure that they facilitate 

ease of application and timely 

adjudication. 

Pursuant to my constitutional 

authority to conduct the foreign 

relations of the United States, I have 

determined that it is in the foreign 

policy interests of the United States to 

defer through June 30, 2022, the 

removal of any Liberian national, or 

person without nationality who last 

habitually resided in Liberia, who is 

present in the United States and who 

was under a grant of DED as of January 

10, 2021. I have also determined that 

any Liberian national, or person without 

nationality who last habitually resided 

in Liberia, who is present in the United 

States and who was under a grant of 

DED as of January 10, 2021, should have 

continued employment authorization 

through June 30, 2022. 

The Secretary of Homeland Security 

shall promptly direct the appropriate 

officials to make provision, by means of 

a notice published in the Federal 

Register, for immediate allowance of 

employment authorization for those 

Liberians who held appropriate DEDrelated employment authorization 

documents as of January 10, 2021. The 

Secretary shall also provide for the 

prompt issuance of new or replacement 

documents in appropriate cases. 

This grant of DED and continued 

employment authorization shall apply 

to any Liberian DED beneficiary as of 

January 10, 2021, but shall not apply to 

such persons in the following 

categories: 

(1) Individuals who would be 

ineligible for TPS for the reasons 

provided in section 244(c)(2)(B) of the 

Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 

U.S.C. 1254a(c)(2)(B); 

(2) Individuals who sought or seek 

LPR status under the LRIF provision but 

whose applications have been or are 

denied by the Secretary of Homeland 

Security; 

(3) Individuals whose removal the 

Secretary of Homeland Security 

determines is in the interest of the 

United States, subject to the LRIF 

provision; 

(4) Individuals whose presence or 

activities in the United States the 

Secretary of State has reasonable 

grounds to believe would have 

potentially serious adverse foreign 

policy consequences for the United 

States; 

(5) Individuals who have voluntarily 

returned to Liberia or their country of 

last habitual residence outside the 

United States for an aggregate period of 

180 days or more, as specified in 

subsection (c)(2) of the LRIF provision; 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 29 / Tuesday, February 16, 2021 / Notices 9531 

1See Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary 

of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security on 

Reinstating Deferred Enforced Departure for 

Liberians January 20, 2021, available at https://

www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidentialactions/2021/01/20/reinstating-deferred-enforceddeparture-for-liberians/ Note: Individuals covered 

by the presidential DED memorandum include 

certain Liberians as well as persons without 

nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia 

who held Temporary Protected Status on September 

30, 2007 and who meet all other criteria in the 

memorandum for DED. Hereinafter, ‘‘DED for 

Liberians’’ also includes such persons without 

nationality. 

2USCIS had previously auto-extended to January 

10, 2021 those EADs for individuals covered under 

DED for Liberians with a March 30, 2020 facial 

expiration date. See Continuation of Employment 

Authorization and Automatic Extension of Existing 

Employment Authorization Documents for Eligible 

Liberians During the Period of Extended WindDown of Deferred Enforced Departure, 84 FR 19496 

(April 7, 2020). 

(6) Individuals who were deported, 

excluded, or removed prior to the date 

of this memorandum; or 

(7) Individuals who are subject to 

extradition. 

Accordingly, I hereby direct the 

Secretary of Homeland Security to take 

the necessary steps to implement for 

eligible Liberians: 

(1) A deferral of enforced departure 

from the United States through June 30, 

2022, effective immediately; and 

(2) authorization for employment 

valid through June 30, 2022. 

The Secretary of Homeland Security 

is authorized and directed to publish 

this memorandum in the Federal 

Register. 

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. 

[FR Doc. 2021–03153 Filed 2–12–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9111–97–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

Services 

Reinstatement of Deferred Enforced 

Departure and Continuation of 

Employment Authorization and 

Automatic Extension of Existing 

Employment Authorization Documents 

for Eligible Liberians 

AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and 

Immigration Services (USCIS), 

Department of Homeland Security. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: On January 20, 2021, 

President Biden issued a memorandum 

to the Secretary of Homeland Security 

(Secretary) directing the Secretary to 

reinstate Deferred Enforced Departure 

(DED) for eligible Liberians, and to 

provide for continued work 

authorization through June 30, 2022. 

Eligible Liberian nationals (and persons 

without nationality who last habitually 

resided in Liberia) covered under DED 

as of January 10, 2021 may remain in 

the United States through June 30, 2022. 

This notice extends through June 30, 

2022 employment authorization for 

Liberians covered under DED and also 

automatically extends DED-related 

Employment Authorization Documents 

(EADs) for those who already have an 

EAD with a printed expiration date of 

March 30, 2020 or January 10, 2021. The 

reinstatement of DED for Liberians is 

intended to allow additional time for 

eligible Liberians to apply for 

adjustment of status on or before 

December 20, 2021 under the extension 

of the Liberian Refugee Immigration 

Fairness (LRIF) provision in section 901 

of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2021. Liberians who apply for 

adjustment of status under LRIF may 

immediately apply for employment 

authorization consistent with that 

provision. 

DATES: DED and employment 

authorization for individuals covered 

under DED for Liberians is extended 

through June 30, 2022. Automatically 

extended DED-related EADs, as 

specified in this notice, expire after June 

30, 2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

• You may contact Maureen Dunn, 

Chief, Humanitarian Affairs Division, 

Office of Policy and Strategy, U.S. 

Citizenship and Immigration Services, 

Department of Homeland Security, by 

mail at 5900 Capital Gateway Drive, 

Camp Springs, MD 20746. 

• For further information on DED, 

including additional information on 

eligibility, please visit the USCIS DED 

web page at www.uscis.gov/ 

humanitarian/temporary-protectedstatus/deferred-enforced-departure. You 

can find specific information about DED 

for Liberians by selecting ‘‘DED Granted 

Country: Liberia’’ from the menu on the 

left of the DED web page. For further 

information on Liberian Refugee 

Immigration Fairness (LRIF), including 

additional information on eligibility, 

please visit the USCIS LRIF web page 

www.uscis.gov/green-card/other-waysget-green-card/liberian-refugeeimmigration-fairness. 

• If you have additional questions 

about DED or LRIF, please visit 

uscis.gov/tools. Our online virtual 

assistant, Emma, can answer many of 

your questions and point you to 

additional information on our website. 

If you are unable to find your answers 

there, you may also call the USCIS 

Contact Center at 800–375–5283 (TTY 

800–767–1833). 

• Applicants seeking information 

about the status of their individual cases 

may check Case Status Online, available 

on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov, 

or call the USCIS Contact Center at 800– 

375–5283 (TTY 800–767–1833). 

• Further information will also be 

available at local USCIS offices upon 

publication of this notice. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Abbreviations 

CFR—Code of Federal Regulations 

DED—Deferred Enforced Departure 

DHS—U.S. Department of Homeland 

Security 

EAD—Employment Authorization Document 

FNC—Final Nonconfirmation 

Form I–485—Application to Register 

Permanent Residence or Adjust Status 

Form I–765—Application for Employment 

Authorization 

Form I–797—Notice of Action (Approval 

Notice) 

Form I–9—Employment Eligibility 

Verification 

Form I–912—Request for Fee Waiver 

FR—Federal Register 

Government—U.S. Government 

IER—U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights 

Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights 

Section 

LRIF—Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness 

SAVE—USCIS Systematic Alien Verification 

for Entitlements Program 

Secretary—Secretary of Homeland Security 

TNC—Tentative Nonconfirmation 

TPS—Temporary Protected Status 

TTY—Text Telephone 

USCIS—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

Services 

U.S.C.—United States Code 

Purpose of This Action 

Pursuant to the President’s 

constitutional authority to conduct the 

foreign relations of the United States, 

President Biden has concluded that 

foreign policy considerations warrant a 

reinstatement of DED for Liberians 

through June 30, 2022.1 Through this 

notice, as directed by the President, 

DHS is extending DED and employment 

authorization for covered Liberians 

through June 30, 2022 and automatically 

extending the validity of DED-related 

EADs bearing a printed expiration date 

of March 30, 2020 or January 10, 2021 

through June 30, 2022.2 The President 

authorized the reinstatement of DED to 

allow for continued employment 

authorization for individuals covered 

under DED. Liberians who apply for 

adjustment of status on or before 

December 20, 2021 under the extension 

of the LRIF provision in section 901 of 

the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2021 may immediately apply for 

employment authorization consistent 

with that provision. See Consolidated 

Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2021, 


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