HAITI WATCH : Port of Misery

A federal appeals court has slapped the Bush Administration on the wrist for its callous policy of having the Coast Guard return Haitian refugees to their troubled country without a hearing to determine whether they qualify for asylum.

Overturning a lower court judge’s ruling, the 2nd District Court of Appeals in New York said the Haitian refugee policy violates not just international treaties that the United States has signed but also U.S. immigration laws stating the government “may not return aliens to their prosecutors” even when refugees are found on the high seas rather than on U.S. territory.

The appeals court Thursday suspended its own order until Saturday. Administration officials will now take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court for a final determination. The appeals court has revived the controversy over not just how this country treats Haitian refugees but how it deals with the illegal government in Port-au-Prince.

There has always been a flow of Haiti’s poor to this country, but it became a flood when the popularly elected government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown by a military coup. Until Aristide is restored, poor Haitians will have little incentive to stay in their homeland.

The Administration has demanded Aristide’s return but imposed only a porous economic boycott on Haiti to back up the demand. This painful and embarrassing standoff would come to a rapid end if Washington were as tough with Haiti’s military and economic elite as it is with poor Haitian refugees.