By JACQUELINE CHARLES AND ALFONSO CHARDY

South Florida immigrant rights advocates are stepping up pressure on the Bush Administration to grant emergency temporary residence and work permits to thousands of migrants from Haiti, Grenada and the Cayman Islands whose homelands were devastated by storms.

Cheryl Little, executive director of Miami-based Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, issued a statement Tuesday urging Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to place undocumented Haitians in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status or TPS program -- reserved for countries in crisis.

About 400,000 Central Americans from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua currently have TPS as refugees from natural disasters -- earthquakes in El Salvador and a hurricane in Honduras and Nicaragua. People with TPS are entitled to temporary residence and work permits and are shielded from deportation -- unless they are convicted of an aggravated felony.

While Little limited her statement to Haitians, she told The Herald in a telephone interview that TPS should also be extended to victims of Hurricane Ivan in Grenada and the Cayman Islands, which were similarly devastated.

Tropical Storm Jeanne, however, delivered the worst blow -- killing more than 600 people in devastating floods in Haiti.

José Lagos, president of Honduran Unity, said he endorsed Little's TPS requests for Haitians and others.

''I pray for them and hope that their petition for TPS also be granted, particularly now ian light of the devastation in the Caribbean,'' said Lagos.

A spokesman at Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles TPS, referred a call to the State Department, which makes recommendations on whether nationals of a country in crisis should receive TPS.

A State Department official assigned to speak on the issue said her agency has not made any recommendations on Haiti, the Cayman Islands or Grenada, but is monitoring the situation.

Since Ivan's devastating blow to the Cayman Islands, thousands of Caymanians and others living in the island have flocked to the airport daily looking to flee to the U.S. or other countries. While some say their stay will only be temporary, others hope to make it more permanent, leaving behind notes on the windshield of vehicles saying ``I am outta here.''

Susan Watler, a spokeswoman for the Cayman Islands government, said the government has no plans to ask for TPS on behalf of its residents.

''We are rebuilding and putting things back together as quickly as possible and we really would like to have people who have left the island to return, and resume their work. It's not just something the government feels is necessary,'' she said.

Denis Antoine, Grenada's ambassador to the United States, said his government also hopes there is no widespread exodus from the island. However, where circumstances require it, Antoine said, he hopes the U.S. would show compassion to deportees who might no longer have homes on the island.

''Such deportees will have no place to go and we hope consideration will be given to looking at the status of these individuals and reassessing the need for their deportation,'' Antoine said.