Biden Administration Policies Welcome Haitian Chaos with Open Arms
FAIR Take | March 2024
Haiti now has the whole world’s attention. Not only is the country in turmoil, but the threat of more Haitians surging the U.S. border is now concerning government officials, in large part because of the Biden administration’s open-border policies.
While Haiti has long suffered from poverty, natural disasters, crime and corruption, the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse brought chaos in the country to a new level. Now, following a recent announcement of a Kenyan-led international intervention in Haiti to restore order, armed gangs (the most powerful led by a former police officer called “Barbecue”) have launched strikes around the capital that have shut down the airport and freed thousands of prisoners. Haiti’s unpopular and unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry has agreed to step down after fleeing the country. It’s clear that Haiti currently lacks a functioning government and clear path forward, which will only further drive more Haitians to head for the U.S.
Thanks to the Biden Administration, these Haitians already have direct access to the U.S. through a parole program that escorts them in with minimal vetting, bypassing the immigration laws created by Congress. This parole program, which is extended to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (abbreviated as CHNV), allows an annual total of 360,000 aliens– who have no visas and are ineligible to be admitted – to submit minimal information through the CBP One App and obtain permission to travel to the U.S.—despite their inadmissibility. Then, upon their arrival at an international airport, they are granted parole and released, able to work and travel freely in the United States. Haitians and Cubans are also immediately eligible for a wide variety of welfare benefits. Between January and November 2023, over 110,000 Haitian illegal aliens were flown right into U.S. cities under this process, and there is no sign of slowing.
As the situation in Haiti devolves, the threat of an influx by sea is growing as well. Leaked emails show the U.S. Coast Guard is unprepared to deal with this possibility. Wary of the Biden administration’s willingness to deter illegal migration, Florida’s state government has deployed resources off its coast to address a potential influx of Haitians.
This confused state of affairs can be compared to nearby nations. The Dominican Republic, which is the only country with a land border with Haiti, has placed the full force of the government behind building a border wall and ensuring that Haiti’s crisis does not spread over its border. The Dominican government recognizes that illegal immigration is bad both for its own people and places their interests first in its policy.
Haitian illegal immigration also presents a serious threat to America. The minimal vetting that Haitians receive through the CHNV program or crossing the border illegally is not sufficient to actually identify criminal threats. This “vetting” relies on fingerprinting, which will catch illegal aliens with previous U.S. arrest records. However, the Biden Administration has no way to check the backgrounds of illegal aliens in their own home countries, especially when these countries have no relations with the U.S. (Venezuela) or in Haiti’s case no functioning government at all. This lets criminals and gang members enter the U.S. and wreak havoc both in American communities and back in their homeland.
Haitian immigration to the U.S. has actually been one of the main drivers of this crisis. The 2021 assassination of President Moïse was actually conceived by Haitians living in the U.S. and funded by money sent back to drug traffickers. Haitian gangs established in the U.S. by illegal aliens have also been involved in shipping huge amounts of deadly weaponry like sniper rifles and even machine guns back to Haiti.
Americans and Haitians alike deserve better than an immigration policy that allows these conflicts to take root on our shores and feed civil wars back home. The influx of illegal aliens to the U.S. is only feeding conflicts abroad, and for their sake and ours, it must be ended and reversed.