Pro-Obama Haitian-Americans want help

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LAUDERHILL, Fla., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Haitian-American leaders who turned out the vote for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in Florida say they expect him to help ease crises in their homeland.

Members of a Broward County, Fla., branch of Haitians for Obama, which worked hard to canvass ethnic communities for the president-elect, say that while immigration and the economy are big issues for them, they also expect Obama's administration to work more closely with Haitian leaders to help their impoverished native country, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday.

"Our country is in a permanent crisis," group member Aude Sicard told the newspaper. "We're not simply asking for humanitarian aid, but we want this country to send technicians and engineers and see a true path for development in Haiti."

Saying they'll continue to build on the activism established to elect Obama, the Haitian-Americans have vowed to continue to lobby for temporary protected status, which would grant undocumented Haitian immigrants in the right to work in the United States legally until their homeland becomes more stable, the Sun-Sentinel said.