Washington (Miami Herald) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that the Obama administration is reviewing a US policy of deporting undocumented Haitians and left open the possibility of expanding travel to Havana beyond the families of Cuban exiles in the United States.
Clinton made the remarks in an interview with the Miami Herald days ahead of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago and days after the White House revamped Cuba policy by lifting all travel and gift restrictions for Cuban Americans to the island. It is the most significant Cuba policy change in decades.
Clinton even offered a sharp reply to Fidel Castro’s criticism that the Obama administration moves were insufficient.
“We would like to see him release some political prisoners,’‘ she said.
She travelled to Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic yesterday and then links up with President Barack Obama in Port of Spain to bring a message of engagement and collaboration. Clinton made it clear that the United States would retain its policy of interdicting Haitians trying to reach Florida’s sun-drenched shores but said the administration was looking at its deportation practices involving Haitians, who help support their impoverished country with remittances.
“We are reviewing the policy and we know what a great source of income the remittances are that flow from … principally the United States back to Haiti,’‘ she said.
An estimated 30,000 Haitians are currently in the deportation pipeline, and immigration advocates argue it would be cruel to send them back to a storm-ravaged country struggling to recover from the impact of four back-to-back storms that left nearly US$1 billion in damage.
Clinton said the administration was sympathetic to “what a tremendous burden it would be on Haiti if all of a sudden they were forced to accommodate the thousands of people who were otherwise working in our country.
“So we expect that we will be able to look closely at this and try to come up with some appropriate responses to the challenges posed.’‘
Haitian advocates want the Obama administration to add Haiti to the list of nations whose citizens here receive Temporary Protected Status, TPS. That would permit undocumented Haitian mi-grants to stay and work in the United States temporarily.
