Haitian Refugees

* Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) misleads your readers when he states that “Haitians have been treated better by the United States than refugees from almost any other nation” (letter, Sept. 1). This is historically false. Haitian refugees have experienced the harshest immigration measures devised by the United States. In 1981, the Reagan administration launched the Haitian Migrant Interdiction Operation, an unprecedented policy to prevent Haitian refugees from reaching U.S. shores by posting Coast Guard cutters on the high seas near Haitian territorial waters. Between 1981 and 1991, only six Haitians out of more than 23,000 intercepted by the Coast Guard were given the opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S. The rest were returned to Haiti.

When President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a military coup in September 1991, thousands more tried to seek protection abroad from the Haitian military’s wrath. They were intercepted and returned. When the U.S. was forced by a judge’s injunction to set up refugee camps in Guantanamo, three out of four Haitians interviewed for “credible fear” determinations were rejected and returned to Haiti. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights was deeply involved in the legal and political battles of that sad period. Gains that were made on behalf of Haitians resulted from winning some of these battles, not from a generous asylum policy.

Finally, let us note that the 200,000 Haitians admitted as legal permanent residents did so through normal channels, in accordance with the immigration laws and regulations.

Haitians are not seeking a general amnesty. They are demanding that refugees and orphaned children be treated the same as Nicaraguans. This is the essential remedy that Congress is being asked to provide. It’s feasible and it’s the right thing to do.

JOCELYN McCALLA

Executive Director, NCHR

New York