Border patrol officers push back Haitian migrants; people everywhere looked on in horror. The now-infamous photo of officers on horseback has made its way through social media, print newspapers and TV. The crisis at the Texan border brought national attention to Haitian immigration, but it’s been a larger problem for longer in South Florida and has gone ignored.
“What you saw at the border in Texas, that’s essentially what was happening in Florida, but it didn’t look the same,” said Ransford Edwards, associate professor of political science at Nova Southeastern University, where he has taught for four years.
Haitians and Haitian Americans do not seem to be particularly surprised at the incidents at the border but have demonstrated outrage at it regardless.
Carrie Alcinord, sophomore biology major and psychology major of Haitian decent said, “What happened in Texas… was a break and showed the world what’s actually going on over there.”
But in South Florida, an area with so much immigration from Latin American countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil, why are Haitians discriminated against in the immigration system?
“Haitians are black,” answered Edwards.
Jennifer Dorcin, a sophomore psychology major and theatre minor, who is of Haitian decent said, “I feel like we’ve been paying for 1804,” in reference to the year Haiti gained independence.
To understand what the immigrant experience is like, especially an embattled country like Haiti, Edwards encourages students to put themselves in their shoes.
“I often ask my students to consider what would it take for you to leave your home? To leave your family?” said Edwards.
For many Haitian Americans, they already have that answer from their family members.
“People are trying to escape and have a better life for their families,” said Dorcin, whose parents left Haiti for Florida.
“Haiti is essentially a failed state… if you look at a presidential assassination, head of the Supreme Court died of COVID-19, deadlock in the legislature, gangs that have control of major metropolitan centers and kidnappings, a recent earthquake that killed thousands of people,” said Edwards.
There are others in South Florida who are leaving dangerous countries, but the standards are not the same for all.
“The Florida dynamic is difficult… immigrants come from sea… and for the most part come from Cuba and Haiti… There have also been clear differentials between how Cubans are received and how Haitians are received,” said Edwards.
Cubans, who also come from a country with heavy emigration and human rights abuse, have historically had many advantages over other immigrants due to their political status. These advantages have included the Freedom flights in the ‘70s and the Wet Food Dry Foot policy that, for a long time, included government subsidies for “Dry Foot” Cubans. None of these are available for Haitians.
“The common language is people flee Cuba because they are fleeing communism… (Haiti) has free market capitalism. So, you have what is the poorest country in the hemisphere also having a capitalist economy,” explained Edwards, “Haiti is what failed capitalism looks like.”
Although the Trump administration was favored amongst Cuban American voters in South Florida, a clause in the 1944 Public Health Service law titled “Title 42”, allowed a total block of immigration during “public health emergencies”, which was used by Trump during the pandemic to shut down immigration. This happened while many Cubans were still stuck at the border. Now the Biden administration is dragging its feet to amend this for the many Haitians stuck there too.
Friends and family do everything they can to make sure that people they know at the border are safe, but, as the issue fades from headlines, hope is running out for those who want ensure they arrive safe.
Alcinord shared her story of a family in need.
“One family is currently trying to come to us, and they were caught in that situation crossing the border. I have not heard anything in the past week. I feel like every time we make a breakthrough in the community another blockage come up,” said Alcinord.
