MIAMI (AP):

The Bush administration won't grant temporary protected status to Haitians living in the United States illegally while their Caribbean homeland struggles to recover from four devastating tropical storms.

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff denied the status in a December 19 letter to Haitian President René Préval. Chertoff said his department tried to help Haiti by directing the coastguard to provide humanitarian relief and delaying deportations for three months.

Homeland Security Spokesman Michael Keegan said Wednesday that a "trickle" of deportations resumed on December 5.

Préval wrote President George W. Bush twice last year asking for the status that allows immigrants from countries experiencing armed conflict or environmental disasters to stay and work in the US for a limited time.