With the media still focused, almost obsessively, on last Saturday’s shooting rampage in Arizona, which killed 6 and wounded 14, one would have been hard-pressed to find any mention on Wednesday of the one-year anniversary of the horrific Haitian earthquake, which killed 316,000 and wounded hundreds of thousands more.
But lack of media attention has to be among the least of concerns for the survivors. After all, even one year later, they are still living in squalid conditions surrounded by the ruble that has become the catastrophic tomb for tens of thousands of unrecovered dead bodies.
Usually, the anniversary of a tragic event gives those involved a chance to look back on the hell that was. Unfortunately, this anniversary finds Haitians still suffering and living this tragedy. And, with precious little of the billions pledged to rebuild Haiti being delivered so far, there seems no end in sight to their living nightmare.
Meanwhile, the lucky few who managed to escape to America in the wake of this quake, as well as the tens of thousands who were living here illegally before it, are now facing the cruel and inhuman prospect of being deported. For the Obama administration has decided that, even though it’s still not safe to return Cuban refugees to their relatively rich country, it’s perfectly safe to return Haitian refugees to the tent cities their country has been reduced to.
[Ironically enough, it was another Democratic president, Bill Clinton] who initiated the inherently unfair, if not racist “wet foot, dry foot” immigration policy during his presidency, which stipulates that seafaring Cuban refugees who make it to U.S. shores must be assimilated, unconditionally; whereas, seafaring Haitian refugees (fleeing even greater persecution and privations) who make it must be repatriated, summarily.
(Compassion fatigue for Haitian migrants, The iPINIONS Journal, July 31, 2009)
I commend Clinton for heading international efforts to rebuild Haiti; never mind that, as indicated above, there’s virtually no evidence of any progress in this respect. But I think this is the least he can do to atone for this discriminatory policy.
In any case, Obama’s refugee roundup will now lead to the ironic spectacle of Haiti’s jails being populated more with deportees from America than with local criminals – many of whom escaped when the prison fell apart during the earthquake, and have yet to be recaptured. Frankly, if the U.S. wanted to make good on its financial pledge, it would do well to start by helping these refugees get settled in America instead of deporting them like common criminals.
I’d say God bless the Haitian people, but that might seem like just a cruel joke.
Related commentaries:
Hurricane Tomas adds to Haiti’s living nightmare
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