New Administration, New Haiti Policy?

By Caroline Stauffer

President of The Haitian League Bernier Lauredan, Sr., M.D., believes that Haitian Americans, 2 million strong, should advise the incoming U.S. Administration on Haiti policy.  Speaking with the IJDH over the phone after the League-sponsored first annual National Congress and Convention of Haitian-Americans, Lauredan said a Haitian-American advisory council should be formed to consult with the new Government on Haiti policy.  “Nothing like that exists,” said Lauredan. “It is imperative that they talk to the Diaspora, which has Haiti at heart.”    

“For the past eight years we have tried to have meetings with the Bush administration,” said Marlene Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, on the eve of the election.  “We have not once been able to and we pray for a new administration with an open door policy.” 

While Haitian-Americans see an opportunity to secure a more just policy towards Haiti from the Barack Obama administration, some believe lack of unity and divergence of opinion in the community will impede policy change.

 “We don’t know how to organize,” said Gary Pierre-Pierre, founder and editor of The Haitian Times in Brooklyn, New York.  “We are altruistic because we love Haiti, but the world doesn’t operate that simply. This has to be done in a very sophisticated manner.  We need to be more professional.”

Pierre-Pierre believes improved organization could be achieved by founding Haitian-American professional institutions, including societies for Haitian-American doctors, lawyers and engineers, or strengthening those organizations that already exist.  Once these institutions are in place, they can hire professional staffs and really influence U.S. policy towards Haiti as well as Haitian politics, he said. 
Lauredan said securing more assistance for Haiti following the four successive hurricanes in September and October is a policy all Haitian-Americans can stand behind.  Haitian-Americans recommended forming a subcommittee “to better understand and clear up misperceptions about foreign aid” at the National Congress, held Oct. 10 – 12 in Newark, N.J. 

Bastien, who was not present at the Conference, agreed that the U.S. could do more to help Haiti, but also said that immigration reform is the most crucial area for advocacy.  She specifically calls for a moratorium on all deportations and for granting temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian-Americans residing in the United States – immediate changes that would be followed by long-term immigration reform.  
“Everyone [in the diaspora] is of the conscience that Haitians need TPS right now,” she said.  “Given the condition that Haiti is in, we believe it is unconscionable for any government to detain and send immigrants to Haiti.” 

Bastien, who is also vice chair of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition that holds monthly meetings in Miami, said allowing Haitians working in the United States to send money back home is an important form of aid. “We need to keeping remittances flowing,” she said.   “When we deport, we cut life lines.” 
Lauredan, however, believes that TPS is simply not enough and is not worth fighting for.  Pointing out that the United States is a country of immigrants, he said, “TPS is a slap in the face.  In a moment of crisis, there has to be long-term reform.”  
Bastien said that Haitian-Americans could be more unified, and pointed to a time when they worked together to enact change. 
In March of 1998, Bastien traveled to Washington, D.C., with other Haitian-Americans to support the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA).  “We worked for three years [for the passage of HRIFA],” Bastien recalled.  “Haitians in Miami and New York worked together.  We can do that again.” 
Bastien and Lauredan agreed that the United States could and should do more to help Haiti rebuild its infrastructure. 

Lauredan calls for an aid package for Haiti, a minimum $4 or 5 million, to invest in sustainable development similar to packages that have been granted to other countries in times of crisis.  Aware of the U.S. economic downturn, Lauredan said that the money could be loaned to Haiti. Not all the money needs to come from the United States, he said, but the United States should lead an international effort to secure aid. 
“If the United States has the willingness, it could make it happen,” Lauredan said.  “When we went to war we found the money… when we needed $700 billion we found the money.  The United States can urge long-term development that will help Haiti, the closest democracy in the Caribbean to the United States, and a long-term friend.”
Bastien said that rather than sending “a few bags of rice,” the United States should concentrate on helping Haiti rebuild.  “For almost two months, we still have major bridges that have not been erected,” she said.  “The United States has the capacity to assist with portable bridges, with big environmental cleaning.  We are in one of the worst crises in our history.  In the Diaspora, we don’t feel that the U.S. has been honest in its offer to assist us.”

A concern for aid accountability is also expressed in the resolution about aid agreed upon at the Haitian League Conference. “Some questioned if the money sent in 2004 got to Haiti and made a U-turn,” Lauredan said.  “This time we got four successive hurricanes that devastated the country.  Haitian-Americans need to be involved. Probably from what I’m hearing – Haitian-Americans need to go back and take things in their own hands and many of us are ready to do so.” 
Lauredan is confidant that the resolutions that were passed focus on areas that the majority of Haitian-Americans believe need to be addressed.