The looming Haitian refugee crisis

[Bragi]

Given the absence of infrastructure, a collapsed economy and debilitating environmental degradation, the deteriorating public health conditions resulting from the earthquake in Haiti will soon require that a decision be made to either evacuate hundreds of thousand of people out of the country, or to put them in huge refugee camps.

We know what the American right would have us do: watch them die while praying for their souls. But what will mainstream Americans think? And how should Obama handle this?

It isn't too early to start to think this through, since this decision will need to be made within the next few days, a week at most.

I am already a bit concerned that the deployment of US hospital ships and air craft carriers may be an indication that the plan is to keep people in Haiti, maybe to build refugee camps in the barren countryside outside Port Au Prince, rather than extracting people from the country.

If that happens without a Marshall Plan type of humanitarian and rebuilding response, I fear the country will simply become a huge and permanent outdoor prison, with America playing the role of prison warden.

[niyad]

1. can't believe someone un'rec'd this--this is going to be a very serious issue.

[TornadoTN]

2. Indeed, this is a serious issue

I'm not sure how we respond to this issue. Evacuating Haitian's to other countries isn't an easy proposition and most likely they will be sent to refugee camps there as well. Keeping them there and implementing a Marshall Plan of sorts is probably the best option, but I question the commitment of the world community to seeing it through properly.

No easy answers any way we go with this one.

[leveymg]

3. Recced. Excellent points, all of them must be discussed.

If recent past history is the guide - and Haiti has been struck repeatedly by calamities, human and natural - the US Gov't and Int'l Agencies will do what's known as "resettlement in place." That means, essentially, containment of the population in tent cities and use of the Coast Guard and Navy to prevent escape by sea. The currents that flow past Haiti's western coast would otherwise take refugees to Florida in a few days.

This is not the most generous or humane approach. But, the right of asylum has been greatly eroded in the last decades by practically all countries.

[Bragi]

6. "resettlement in place" sounds plausible, but...

I'm not sure where that happens, since the countryside has been devastated and cleared of trees and other growing things for decades now.

I suppose you can just cart the survivors from the destroyed capital, put up barb fenced corrals with armed guard stations, and call it "resettlement in place." But it really would be little more than an outdoor prison.

And what happens then? Do we think Haitians will accept that situation indefinitely?

This is where I look to Obama for leadership and evidence of true change. We know what Bush would have done -- prayer plus a security perimeter around the place.

I naturally hope and expect for a better response from Obama, but I don't envy him because the politically difficult part of this crisis lies before him.

[leveymg]

7. I suggest you do a GOOGLE maps tour of PaP at low altitude. You'll see

that the built up area of the capitol is actually pretty small, and that large numbers of people live in shanty towns clustered here and there in the countryside. Start near the airport and move northwest, and you'll see one sitting at the end of a strip of farmland about a mile or two from the western end of the runway. All or most of these shacks probably collapsed.

There's plenty of room within walking distance of downtown to put up tent cities. The only question is, what is the quality of life going to be for the occupants? That's what we need to keep our eyes on and voices raised about.

[Bragi]

12. I'll do it

Actually, I did it a bit the first day of the earthquake, but haven't been back. I did quickly view the huge shantytown developments outside the core, some of which were clinging like barnacles to hillsides. I quickly surmised that these sprawling and disjointed piles of concrete, rebar, cinder block and tin would become rubble in a major quake.

But I get your point, which is that there is no problem finding space within walking distance of the core, which is good.

[leveymg]

15. Thank you for posting. It expresses some thoughts I've had as well.

I've worked in the immigration and international trade and development fields for twenty-five years. I've never been to Haiti, but I have been to several very poor neighboring Caribbean and South American countries, and seen these shanty-towns and "mushroom cities" that spring up on any patch of disused land and cling precariously to the crumbling hillsides. What amazes me is the smiles on the faces as people step around the running sewers that flood the dirt streets. Reaffirms the overarching joy and adaptability of human life.

I grieve when I see so many lose what little they have.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. NIMBY! n/t

[OHdem10]

5. This is very difficult for me to discuss. I am picking up a buss

that on some fronts there are those will want to "rebuild Haiti"
setting them on a firm foundation for a modern country.

As expected, I am picking up, push back. Ostensibly this is
from the right at the present. Cong. Devore--What is our
exit strategy from Haiti. The Dittoheads are starting to
rumble.

I fear there will be millions of Americans who are asking themselves,
in the privacy of their homes---2 wars, Increased funds for Yemen,
HealthCare I do not like adding to the Deficit. We cannot afford
good healthcare for Americans, but we are rebuilding the world.
What I am saying it is human nature for people to consider their
own conditions when times are rough and you live in fear of
losing your job.

It is a noble idea to want to put Haiti on a good path.

I am still mulling this serious situation over. No conclusion
yet.

[earth mom]

8. Good for you that you're honest to say that the U.S. can not afford to save the world.

We can't even save ourselves and are heading down a very desperate path of our own with so many people becoming homeless and jobless here in what has been said to be the richest country in the world.

The only problem is that all those "riches" are in the hands of the few.

[nashville_brook]

9. there's going to be a swelling of existing Haitian communities, esp here in Florida

and probably in NY and DC.

Here's a link to a story about a planned airlift of orphans to S FL.
http://www.miamiherald.com/486/story/1426351.html?storylink=omni_popular

The Miami Herald is doing some incredible coverage, overall, on this.

[Bragi]

13. Thanks

I'll put the Herald on my Haiti list...

[C_Lawyer09]

10. There is precedent to examine

As there is currently millions of refugees. This will definitely have to be dealt with in an international sense. Look at the current refugee status in Rwanda/Darfur, and how it was and is being handled. The bottom line is that ugly events breed ugly circumstances. We know this domestically from the Katrina aftermath. The painful truth is that are resources that we can contribute, refugee wise, are finite.

[mrbarber]

11. American culture (and food..oh man, the food) would be highly enriched..

By an influx of Haitian refugees.

[Junkdrawer]

14. I've been saying this for the last two days...

It will get ugly...