Haitian Policy: Out of Focus

The U.S. government has legitimate--even humanitarian--reasons for wanting to stop the exodus of boat people from Haiti. But the unseemly haste with which the process of repatriating Haitian refugees got under way this past weekend is very troubling.

Times correspondents reported that the first Coast Guard cutter to return refugees to Port-au-Prince took more than 36 hours to complete what is normally a 12-to-14-hour trip from Guantanamo, Cuba, where more than 10,000 Haitians are in custody. The delay was said to be caused by a bureaucratic mix-up. State Department officials in Washington apparently were so determined to get the return process rolling that they ordered it begun within hours of getting approval from the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed late Friday night to lift a lower court order barring any repatriation of Haitians.

But in starting the process on Saturday, Washington officials were either unaware of--or deliberately ignored--warnings from the U.S. Embassy in Haiti that the Haitian Red Cross would not be ready to receive homebound refugees until Monday. Such a lack of coordination is sadly indicative of how schizophrenic U.S. policy has become.

Haiti’s crisis, which began when a military coup ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Sept. 30, has evolved into a frustrating standoff. It’s certainly true that U.S. officials are right to continue to insist, with the Organization of American States, that the legitimately elected Aristide be returned to power. The OAS has imposed an economic embargo to back up that demand. But what’s questionable is the refusal of U.S. officials to grant temporary refugee status to Haitians who flee their country, a relatively easy step often used in the past when foreign governments brutally suppress political dissent, as the current Haitian government is doing. That’s an oddly dissonant chord in what is otherwise a sound policy: the attempt to restore democratic government in Haiti.

The longer this policy dissonance goes on, the more embarrassing it will be for Washington. Worse, it could undermine the OAS’ firm stance by sending mixed signals to the coup leaders in Port-au-Prince. Washington must get its act together on Haiti, and come down consistently, as it did earlier, on the side of the Haitian people.