Thread: Help Haitians, but don’t throw open U.S. borders USA TODAY

Our view on compassion and immigration: Help Haitians, but don’t throw open U.S. borders

Future of quake-ravaged nation depends on keeping its most able.

It's natural to want to help suffering Haitians by almost any means. Such generous impulses are one of the things that make America great.

But emerging proposals to bypass immigration rules and bring Haitians here by the tens of thousands are rooted in impulse, not reason. They will not help Haiti or its people in the long term. And they surely are unfair to people from other nations who have been waiting in line, some for more than a decade, to get into the USA.

For starters, inviting thousands to flee Haiti is no way to help Haiti rebuild. To the contrary, Haiti's survival depends on encouraging its best and brightest to remain and work on its revival.

The U.S. government has already taken some sensible humanitarian steps. It has accepted more than 650 Haitians in desperate need, including orphans who already had adoptive parents waiting and victims in need of emergency medical care not available in Haiti. And it offered "temporary protected status" to Haitians living illegally in the U.S., allowing them to apply to stay for 18 months so they could work and send money home.

But some Haitian advocates want to go further and let thousands more in. A sizeable minority of Americans, 41%, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released this week, wants Haitian immigration increased. The calls have come from all parts of the political spectrum. Lavinia Limon, a former Clinton administration official who heads the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, argues below for a liberalized policy. In a Washington Post op-ed, Elliott Abrams, a State Department official under Ronald Reagan, suggested increasing the flow of Haitian immigrants by several times what is has been for the past decade, about 25,000 a year.

Some advocates suggest letting in those with family here who are already approved to immigrate and on a waiting list — roughly 50,000 Haitians.

That suggestion has some merit. Some may already be here, for instance, on student or other visas, so the numbers are manageable. They're going to immigrate anyway; it's just a matter of time.

Even that proposal presents troubling questions. Should those entrants include people from parts of Haiti untouched by the earthquake? Or only those from earthquake-ravaged areas? Or only those who've lost their homes? Or limbs?

And as long as America is reaching out to those in need, what about citizens of other dirt-poor nations? Bangladesh, for example, has about 50,000 approved people with U.S. family connections waiting in line, too.

No, they haven't just suffered a horrific natural disaster. But millions in Bangladesh are routinely displaced by monsoons. It doesn't seem fair to make them wait while Haitians jump ahead.

There's also this: A firm stand on immigration could hold down the number of Haitians who are likely to take to the sea to make the treacherous 600 mile crossing to the USA. Many could die trying. Those not approved to enter would be detained and deported.

The more one weighs the consequences, the less appealing the immigration option seems.

So far, the Obama administration has gotten the policy about right: It's not throwing open the doors, but it is doing a great deal to ease Haiti's burden.

America will do the most good by doing what it's capable of doing more efficiently. Finding ways to make Haiti more livable, more quickly, will encourage citizens to stay. Helping to finance reconstruction will create thousands of jobs for Haitians, in Haiti.

That might not feel as good as saying "ya'll come," but in the long run, it will be far more beneficial.

Posted at 12:22 AM/ET, January 29, 2010 in USA TODAY editorial

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Opposing view: Give victims priority

Let Haitians with relatives in the USA immigrate here ASAP.
By Lavinia Limon

The horrific disaster in Haiti compels us to act in every way possible to reduce suffering and save lives. I salute everyone working on the ground in dreadful conditions to provide medical assistance, food, water and shelter. Although the relief is agonizingly slow, there's progress, and it will accelerate.

What else can we do?

We can help the approximately 50,000 Haitians who've already gotten U.S. government approval to come to this country because they have a close relative (spouse, child, parent or sibling) who's a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.

Our fellow citizens and neighbors filled out multiple forms, submitted documents and in some cases DNA tests, and signed a legally binding agreement that they would support their incoming relative. Then they waited for the bureaucracy to approve their petitions. Once approved by the Homeland Security Department, their relatives in Haiti were placed on a waiting list that could keep them waiting for an additional 10 years to leave for the USA.

These citizens and legal residents followed all the rules to gain legal U.S. entry for their relatives. Then the earthquake struck. Children, wives, mothers and siblings are now in danger, and some, no doubt, have died or suffered severe injuries. U.S. citizens are powerless to help their families unless we give these victims priority to immigrate to the USA.

It's time to end the waiting of those who survived and to bring them to safety. Canada has already begun this process. We could and should expedite the movement of these approved family members to the U.S.
But we shouldn't stop there. Other Haitians who also have family in the U.S. should be allowed to join their relatives for humanitarian reasons. They could work and send money home to help rebuild Haiti.

America has always responded when lives were in danger.

In 1975, in the wake of the Vietnam War, we brought Vietnamese and Hmong to our shores. During the 1998 conflict in the Balkans, we airlifted Kosovo Albanians to safety. Over the years, we have given sanctuary to countless Cubans and others whose lives were in danger.
We should do no less for Haitians.

Lavinia Limon is president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a non-profit group that has advocated for their rights since 1911.

Posted at 12:21 AM/ET, January 29, 2010 in USA TODAY editorial
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I'm surprised that USA TODAY said to NOT let them come here.

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Lavinia says to let them come and send money home, while we are pouring billions into rebuilding the country and giving aid. I feel bad for anyone under such stress, but where are we going to put all these people, if everyone from all over the world with a cousin in the U.S. is allowed to come here? It might be more manageable if we were able to deport all the illegals with their anchor babies, but according to pundits (even Sarah Palin), that is impossible. Illegals are here for nothing but money, while Haitians are suffering a real disaster on top of poverty.