The Haitian Refugee Situation

I have several questions for all you people who have opinions [img]smile.gif[/img]

As some may know, there is currently a serious economic collapse happening on the Island of Haiti and people are fleeing the place by the thousands. Most are headed to Florida to try and find some way to get intot he US and settle here.

My questions are:

1. What are the US' obligations toward these people?
2. Does the US have the right to try and keep people out?
3. Should the US send them back to where they came from?
4. Should the US grant them some unoccupied land here in the US and financial aid to start over in this country?
4. What do some of the other countries represented on the board do in these situations?

[Charean]

I hate to answer a question with a question... but was Haiti hit by a hurricane recently?

And I guess the next question is: Do they want our help?

[Arvon]

Just as EVERY nation on this planet, the US has laws about imigration. There's a right way and an illegal way. It's a slap in the face of those who use the legal way to allow these illegals in. Mr Clinton set up a government there that is suppose to corect the problems of that counrty. After all Mr. Clinton said it would. They should be rounded up and sent back just as any other criminal should be deported.

[Timber Loftis]

I have family in Miami, and from what I've seen Haitian refugees are a common thing to see in Newspapers there. In this instance there's just so damned many that it gets more obvious national coverage. In the past, all Haitian asylum-seekers were simply shipped back to Haiti. Ten months ago, Florida began a detention policy regarding Haitians.

News regarding the situation generally: http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/4408533.htm
More on the policy itself:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/4408567.htm

I happen to know a bit about asylum law, as my other half spent some time clerking for the immigration court and writing asylum opinions. It's a hard standard, and the last-ditch effort for someone who is in this country illegally to stay here. Generally, you must prove that there would be persecution of you in your home country if you returned, and that your life would be threatened. This is very difficult, and 99% of asylum cases are denied. But, when a country grows more unstable politically, as I understand (though I admit limited knowledge) Haiti has over the past few years, the likelihood of persecution becomes greater. Thus, asylum-seekers are more likely to win and be allowed to stay in America forever (which was not the case before, when they were simply all shipped home).

Haitian asylum-seekers in Florida have been a great bone of contention for years. The Miami-Dade area is mostly hispanic, but is also very very culturally diverse: you can search the Miami Herald website for demographics, and you'll be amazed at the numbers of ethnic groups there, and one article even gives you a map of which ones are clustered where. But, regardless of all that, all the groups in Miami (if you look at their majority opinion), except possibly African-American, agree on one thing: no one wants more Haitians.

So, the detention policy is legally suspect in my mind, admittedly at first blush without an in-depth knowledge of all facts. I think it might be a legal attempt to subvert the asylum-seeker rules so Haitians won't be granted asylum.

Oh, and just so you know, there is a bone of contention that the ACLU has regarding treatment of different refugees. With Cuba, the rule (by treaty with Cuba) is that if the refugee is picked up in the water they go home, but if they make it to land they get to stay.

Originally posted by Charean: I hate to answer a question with a question... but was Haiti hit by a hurricane recently? And I guess the next question is: Do they want our help? Don't know about the Hurricane, but right now they are doing a very good imitation of Cubans.

Timber, thanks for the Info.

What immediatly comes to mind though is the younger of the two snipers now incarcerated for multiple murders.

The Kid and his mom, were picked up for being here illegally, the Boarder patrol recommended that they be deported so the INS, said to the people, You are here illegally, your court date is in 1 year, please show up for your trial and let them go.....seems to me that our whole immigration system is FUBAR

[Timber Loftis]

Um... MagiK, with midwestern beautiful simplicity (which is rubbing of on me), I'll just say, "Yep." Anything else I might add would simply have to do with nails and hitting heads, and would be redundant. Then I'd have to clear it with the Department of Redundancy Department (DRD).

[Chewbacca]

I think we need to treat cubans and haitins, actually all refugees equally.

ie Either lock them all up or let them all free to await asylum hearings.

The discriminatory treatment haitians refugees recieve compared to cubans is blatant and probably has everything to do with the large cuban-american voting population in florida.

[ 10-31-2002, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]

Can't really argue with you there Chewie. I have always wondered why Cubans got such special treatment, until I realized that they make up a huge voting block in a key state, just as Mexicans do in California.

[Attalus]

Too true, Magik, but don't forget the Cold War and the enormous appeal there was back then for any refugee from a Communist country. Remember the East Germans that made it across the Wall, and the heroes' welcomes that they got?