Help Haitians in Haiti—Don’t Bring Them Here

            The earthquake that killed as many as 200,000 Haitians was a terrible tragedy. As is usually the case when a major disaster strikes anywhere in the world, America has been the leader in providing assistance. So far, our country, among the other nations of the world, has provided more than 28 percent of the financial assistance given Haiti, and our military is playing a key role in maintaining order. Also, private American citizens have been extremely generous in contributing to the stricken country. All of this generosity comes at a time when our country is hurting economically. 

            These points we should keep in mind when we will hear—as surely we will—that our compassion is lacking if we do not open our doors to all the Haitians who want to leave their country. Already rumors are going around that many Haitians are on their way. Now is the time for Americans to make it clear that there are limits to our generosity. We do ourselves no favor when we spread the idea that misfortune abroad is a ticket to come here, and we do others no favor either when we encourage that idea.

            The tsunami that struck Indonesia in 2004 was at least as devastating to the island of Sumatra as the Haitian earthquake. And then, as usual, America helped, but we didn’t deem it necessary to bring in Indonesians. One reason is that they don’t have a significant community and advocates in the U.S. Without an easy escape from their plight, the Indonesians set to work rebuilding.

            There is, however, a Haitian community in the U.S., thanks to past immigration, and its members and their advocates can be counted on to promote an exodus from Haiti—and to oppose deportation of Haitian illegal aliens. The Obama Administration has already announced that the 30,000 Haitian illegals slated for deportation before the earthquake will now be allowed to remain in the United States for 18 months under “temporary protected status.” The Department of Homeland Security estimates that between 100,000 and 200,000 Haitian illegals reside in the U.S.

            In practical terms, this decision means that the 30,000 and many of the rest may never go home. Defenders of the policy claim it is humanitarian. But as Rep. Steve King (R-IA) observed, “This sounds to me like open borders advocates exercising the Rahm Emmanuel axiom: ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’” Another point King noted was that with so great a loss of life in Haiti, the country could use some extra hands to help rebuild.

            In the end, there is only so much that we can do for Haiti. It will never improve if its people believe that running away is the answer to their problems.