[Author’s Note: This commentary was originally published on March 31, 2005. Sadly, 20 years later, the more things have changed elsewhere, the more they’ve stayed the same in Haiti. So I’ve updated it — with a few new facts and, alas, the same old misery and hypocrisy.]

Haitian migrants aren’t causing a crisis so much as a crisis of conscience. Because the region’s response to them is rooted in hypocrisy and historical amnesia — and a pathological talent for pretending Haitians are someone else’s problem, until their dinghies wash ashore.

And yes, just as the waves make towards the pebbled shores, so do Haitians in sequent toil — with all that portends. No one says it out loud, of course. But the regional response says it all: detain, deport, deny, repeat.

Regional countries exploit but never assimilate Haitians

The Dominican Republic is Haiti’s not-so-loving twin. But the hatred Dominicans show for Haitians runs even deeper than Cain’s for Abel. That’s why, far from assimilating Haiti’s huddled masses through a golden door, the DR systematically exploits them.

But so many Haitians are yearning to be free that the DR still deports over ten thousand a week. That’s not immigration policy. That’s ethnic cleansing. Indeed, a “New Colossus” for the DR would end like this:

Give me your strong, your able,
Your desperate men to exploit for cheap labor,
The gangs menacing your shithole cities.
Send them, the vagrant, lost souls to us,
Our sign says, Laborers Only, above the asylum door.

So yes, they’ll gladly take Haitian hands to harvest sugar and scrub toilets. Just don’t ask them to take names, families, or responsibility.

Jamaica, meanwhile, keeps performing border control cosplay with Haitian migrants. But the script is always the same. It detains, fines, and deport them with Nazi Germany’s sympathy and efficiency.

The Bahamas? It’s repatriating migrants faster than you can say “help wanted.” And no one’s asking who’s going to sweep the streets and scrub the yachts when the Haitians are gone.

Canada? It sends peacekeeping platitudes while quietly tightening its visa screws.

And, of course, there’s the United States. No doubt, the way Caribbean countries treat Haitian migrants is shameful. But the way the US treats them is downright schizophrenic. Above all, recall that the United States has a historical obligation to Haiti — rooted in centuries of intervention, occupation, and exploitation.

From the 1915 occupation to backing the Duvaliers, Washington has played the long game of rescue and abandon, conveniently forgetting the Monroe Doctrine when it suits.

CARICOM and the delusion of Caribbean unity

You’d think CARICOM would step in. After all, they’re quick to issue statements when someone’s feelings get hurt at a summit.

But when it comes to Haitian migrants, regional unity dissolves faster than sugar in rum punch. Each nation fends for itself, all while pretending Haiti is just some faraway land instead of a neighbor hemorrhaging human lives.

Migrants as guest workers

The inconvenient truth is that Haitian migrants aren’t just running from something. They’re running toward a region that needs them – just as the US needs the Latino migrants it treats with similar disdain.

Like the US, which scorns Latino migrants as vermin, Caribbean countries greet Haitian migrants like an infestation. Whereas the humane and sensible thing to do in both cases is to process these migrants as guest workers – with the labor and human rights ordinary citizens enjoy.

As things stand, Haitians do not pose a migration crisis as much as they reflect the Caribbean’s moral bankruptcy and political cowardice.

Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.

FOLLOW ME ON: Facebook / Instagram / Threads