Mass deportations of Haitians isn't the answer (Orlando Sentinel)

[struggle4progress]

March 6, 2009

President Obama has a lot on his plate these days. The economy alone is a whopper of a problem that will occupy his agenda for the foreseeable future.

But that's no reason for the president to condone the counterproductive deportation of Haitians. Immigrant advocates have long called for the U.S. government to grant temporary protected status to Haitians, which would allow a limited number of refugees to live and work legally in the United States until their storm-battered country stabilizes.

What they ask for is nothing more than what refugees from a handful of Central American countries have been granted in the aftermath of natural disasters. But such demands fell on deaf ears during George W. Bush's presidency, despite evidence of inhumane conditions in Haiti, which is still trying to recover from four hurricanes and food shortages.

Now what is even more disturbing are the ongoing deportations, which the Bush administration halted in September at the request of the Haitian government, resumed in mid-December and continue under Obama's presidency. Haitian families are being torn asunder as parents are sent back to Haiti, leaving their U.S.-born children behind. This poses all sorts of problems for regions of Florida where social-service agencies, already strained by the faltering economy, must care for the children whose parents have been deported ...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edped062030609mar06,0,1109482.story

[classysassy]

1. Let

the Haitians stay,deport the cubans.