The White House has announced that U.S. officials will halt the deportation of Lebanese citizens who have run afoul of immigration laws because of the ongoing conflict on Lebanon’s border with Israel.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that “humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated” and “many civilians remain in danger” due to the ongoing low-level fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
The two sides have engaged in near-daily clashes since October, which have killed around 500 people on the Lebanese side, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups, but also including some 90 civilians.
The White House statement said Biden had “determined that it is in the foreign policy interest of the United States to defer for 18 months the removal of any Lebanese national” with some exceptions, including anyone convicted of a felony or who the Secretary of Homeland Security determined “presents a danger to public safety.” The Lebanese citizens would be authorized to work during that period.