WASHINGTON, D.C. � U.S. Senator Jack Reed is urging the White House to extend deferred departure for thousands of Liberians living in the United States. They otherwise face being sent back involuntarily to Liberia, where the Ebola crisis is raging.

WASHINGTON, D.C. � U.S. Senator Jack Reed is urging the White House to extend deferred departure for thousands of Liberians living in the United States. They otherwise face being sent back involuntarily to Liberia, where the Ebola crisis is raging.

The Obama Administration�s current grant of Deferred Enforced Departure for eligible Liberians is set to expire on Sept. 30. That applies to Rhode Island, which has the highest population of Liberians per capita in this country.

More than 3500 people have been infected with Ebola so far, according to news reports; nearly half of them in Liberia. The World Health Organization has predicted that the Ebola outbreak could exceed 20,000 cases before it is stopped, and many thousands of new cases are expected in Liberia, Reed�s office stated.

�The U.S. should be doing everything it can to stop the spread of Ebola, not potentially sending thousands of families from our communities into the midst of a deadly outbreak,� Senator Reed said Thursday.

�I agree with the President that we have to make the fight against Ebola a national security priority. It would be inhumane to tear families apart in the U.S. and send them into the hardest-hit areas of this disaster.�