Haiti is a country in southern Haiti. It’s a place full of poverty, conflict and political turmoil. It is also a country known for its strong religious community and rich history. The current situation in the country is what led to thousands of illegal aliens trying to come to the United States as well.
Haiti is a poor country that needs a lot of help. It needs a lot of food and water. People live in a rural area with no running water or electricity. Most people rely on others to carry water to them and use electricity. Because of the poverty and lack of basic facilities many of these people desperately need help. As a result, the government is trying to find a way to bring more help to this country.
The United Nations and other international agencies have been helping in the relief effort for many years. The hurricane is the latest and largest to hit the area. The numbers are still staggering. Over the weekend, Port au Prince airport was overwhelmed with people trying to get home by flight. Many were turned away because of the overwhelming number of visas that must be acquired before being allowed into the country.
In terms of the number of people who have left the country, it is still shocking. Some estimates say nearly a million have already left. That’s a huge influx of people. Some say the total could be double once processing has been done and all visas are approved and sent back to their home countries.
There are several areas where the outcome is particularly bad. Port au Prince is one of them. It has been destroyed. Homes have been damaged and entire neighborhoods have been wiped out. Water and food do not come in. It is impossible for one organization to help with such need and destruction.
One thing is certain. Without help, conditions at Port au Prince will only get worse. Food shortages and living conditions will gradually get worse. Haiti needs more help than most people realize. The problem will never be solved as long as there are individuals like you and me who are willing to help.
One thing is certain. This country will not recover until the international community works together. If you think the government and the support agencies can only provide enough help to each of the victims, think again. The truth is that this is a very daunting task. Haiti is a country of more than 5 million people. It takes more than a few dozen helicopters to discharge food and water to the entire country.
The devastating earthquake and floods are proof that the country’s infrastructure is crumbling. It is simply not possible to deal with such a massive influx of immediate arrival. For now, the focus is on getting supplies to the affected areas and getting basic infrastructure working. Thousands of families live in tents and sleep on the ground. Some hope the country will eventually recover but there are no guarantees.
One of the most important tasks is to ensure adequate health facilities are available to those who need it. Only one percent of the population has access to health care. Most victims of this country suffer from diseases that could easily be prevented with simple hygiene. Hundreds of children die every day from lack of safe water and proper sanitation.
When millions of people suffer from poverty, disease and natural disasters, the country cannot attract the capital needed to properly fund public service delivery. Relief organizations rely on donations to survive. Without the necessary funding, they will be forced to close their programs. Without any help from outside the country, they risk closing their doors to any potential donors.
Haiti has one of the highest poverty rates in the Western Hemisphere. The combination of natural disasters and political turmoil has created a dire situation for its citizens. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Millions of desperate people live in a country that can be better off than most of its neighbors.
Border agents make life-changing decisions for thousands of border Haitian families about whether they can stay in the United States or be deported.
Published September 23, 2021September September 30, 2021
SAN ANTONIO – In Houston, nearly 2,000 Haitian migrants have arrived this week from the small border community of Del Rio, with buses pulling up to a huge asylum almost every hour. In San Antonio, larger U.S. authorities have allowed hundreds more on flights to destinations as far away as New York, Boston and Miami, paperwork in their pockets allowing them to stay in the country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported about 2,000 migrants in recent days on chartered flights to Haiti as the Biden administration seeks to stop more people rushing to the border. But the authorities have also allowed thousands more to travel to cities across America, where they can live for months or years while they await immigration hearings.
“We’re so happy to be in America,” said Inso Isaac, 40, who left Haiti years ago and lived in Chile until he, his wife and their 2-year-old son made the dangerous journey across several countries and arrived last week at Del Rio. On Wednesday, the family took a flight to New York, where they planned to stay with relatives on Long Island. “We want to start a new life here,” he said.
An opportunity to settle in the United States, no matter how slim, has driven the latest surge, forcing more than 14,000 migrants to wander across the Rio Grande and into Del Rio over the past week, where they have encounter armed National Guard troops and Border Patrol agents. on horseback. On Thursday, about 3,100 remained in precipitous conditions under the international bridge connecting Del Rio with Mexico, circumstances that have sparked anger from Republicans and Democrats.
Images of horse-riding agents rounding up migrants and of dozens of state police vehicles blocking access across the river have prompted criticism from Democratic law-makers and administration officials that Haitians are treated inhuman. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said the equine patrol unit in Del Rio had been temporarily suspended and the agents’ actions were being investigated. A special U.S. ambassador to Haiti has also resigned in a protest of mass deportation, two officials said, and sent a blistering letter to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
“I will not be involved in the inhuman, counterproductive decision of the United States to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are restricted to securing compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs to everyday life, ”Daniel Foote, who was appointed to the post in July, wrote in a letter dated Wednesday.
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said in a news briefing on Thursday that officials aimed to quickly turn single adults and migrant families. But some groups, including pregnant women and families with young children, have been allowed to stay in the United States because some expatriates will not accept migrant families with young, vulnerable children.
Ms Psaki said the White House was “horrified” by the agents’ images of horses rounding migrants and that Mr Biden, whose administration has faced the highest level of border crossings for decades, is working to develop ” merciful. Immigration system.
Yet criticism from immigration advocates continued to build on Thursday over decisions about who could stay and who couldn’t. More than two-thirds of Haitian migrants who have been expelled from the border and returned to Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, are women and children, according to initial estimates by UNICEF. Conservatives, meanwhile, criticized the Biden administration for accepting so many others.
It was unclear Thursday how many Haitians were deported rather than allowed to come into the country and await asylum hearings. All told, nearly 2,000 Haitians had been returned to Haiti by late Thursday, about 40 percent of which were family units, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. Resettlement groups said they were aware of a fairly equal number from Del Rio who had been allowed to stay in the country.
Under President Donald J. Trump, the asylum system essentially came to an end, as virtually no migrants were allowed to enter the country while their claims for protection were heard; instead, they were required to stay in Mexico, often settling in reduction camps near the border. In contrast, the Biden administration has allowed more to enter and remain in the United States while their asylum cases develop.
But because there is serious support for the immigration courts, the process can take several years, allowing people to effectively settle in the United States. If they lose their cases or do not attend their court hearings and stay in the country illegally, they would join millions of undocumented immigrants already living in the shadows.
At San Antonio airport on Wednesday night, a number of Haitian families who had been to Del Rio stayed to board flights to various American cities. Mr. Isaac, holding a paper that instructed him to report to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office within 15 days of arriving in New York, said he needed to find a lawyer. But that felt like an easy task after spending $ 12,000 and several weeks crossing South and Central America on foot and bus and swimming in dirty rivers.
Nearby, Israel Fleurios, 31, and Widna Azema, 35, waited for a flight to Miami, where they planned to stay with Mr Fleurios’ aunt. The Haitian couple fled five years ago and had spent several years in Brazil before making the journey to Del Rio, an unlikely place for Haitian migrants but a border crossing they had heard was accessible.
Ms. Azema was pregnant when they left Brazil, gave birth to a daughter, Bruna, in Guatemala, and carried her the rest of the distance to Texas. The couple have another daughter, Valentina, 3, who has a skeletal disorder that prevents her from walking upright.
“I think they let me through because they saw how bad it was,” Ms Azema said of the border authorities’ reaction to Valentina’s condition. “Everyone with children like us was allowed through. We appreciate it. ”
In a corner of the airport, many other Haitian migrants sat anxiously with their few possessions. Duperval Marie Ange, 42, watched her 5-year-old son, Mike, run around the terminal as they waited to board a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Like the others, she had spent a difficult week under the International Bridge in Del Rio. She had cringed when she saw images of the agents on horses chasing migrants. The pictures were upsetting, she said in broken Spanish she had learned while living in Chile, but they also made her thankful that she had been allowed to the United States.
“I can’t say anything bad,” he said. “La policyia me ayudo. The police helped us. They gave us food. They let us cross. We’re here. “
In Houston, a hundred Haitians were taken into shelters. At one site, about 300 people arrived every day this week, said Carlos Villarreal, an elder with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who operates that refuge. He said only families were receiving his asylum, many of which included children or pregnant women.
“At least 25 per cent of families are made up of pregnant women,” said Mr Villarreal. “Some of them have been traveling for weeks from South America in extremely challenging conditions.”
Families are tested for Covid-19 on arrival at the Houston shelter and then given food, water and underwear change, as well as access to showers and beds.
“Some of our families have been traveling for weeks, not washing, not eating properly, without access to feminine hygiene products,” said Mr Villarreal.
From Houston, many of the families, who typically stay less than 24 hours at Mr. Villarreal’s shelter, then travel to places around the United States where their relatives live. Relatives are expected to pay for the airship, but volunteers have convened to do so if this is not possible.
Mr. Isaac, his young son in arms, Haiti in 2017, fleeing what he said was an endless cycle of violence, poverty and natural disasters. In Chile, he met his wife, and they had a son, Hans, who was accidentally burned and in need of medical attention. There, he worked in construction, hotels and restaurants, and said he planned to look for similar jobs in New York.
He and his wife hadn’t planned it this way, but Hans celebrated his second birthday on Wednesday – at an American airport that was nearing the end of their very long journey.
“I felt bad, because we all came here for the same reasons,” he said of the large number of Haitian migrants he met in Del Rio. “I didn’t know that not everyone was going to achieve it. We were lucky. ”
James Dobbins contributed reports from Del Rio, and Eileen Sullivan and Zolan Kanno-Youngs from Washington.
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