Continuing Bush’s policies, government to deport thousands of Haitian workers

With the complicity of the Obama White House, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced in late February a plan to restart deportations of tens of thousands of Haitian workers. Many of those facing deportation are refugees seeking asylum from the deepening social crisis in Haiti.

Evelyn, a Haitian immigrant, wears a tracking device as she waits to find out whether she will be deported and separated from her U.S.-born daughter, January 2009.

After an estimated 1,000 people were killed by mudslides in the U.N.-occupied Caribbean country last year, there was a push to grant temporary protected status to Haitian immigrants—a measure that was extended when Honduras and El Salvador were hit by similar disasters.

Deportations were temporarily suspended last September, while the Bush administration “considered” the request. In December, the request was rejected and the deportations resumed. Many had hoped that the new president would alter that policy. Instead, the deportations of 30,000 Haitian workers have already begun.

Haitian immigration to the United States has long been a deeply political and highly contentious matter. After the 1991 coup d’état that overthrew the first government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, thousands of Haitians sought asylum from military brutality. Instead, the Clinton administration imprisoned them at the Guantánamo naval base. The Bush administration responded similarly when natural disasters tore through the island.

Haiti’s history is one of courage, pride and, above all, struggle. Haitian slaves rose up and fought for 20 years to defeat their French oppressors, becoming the first Black republic in 1804. Simón Bolívar sought asylum and aid from the Haitian government in 1815 to launch the liberation wars in South America.

But in all its accomplishments, Haiti has been crippled by capitalism since its independence. Lack of funds, lack of aid, the installment of puppet leaders, military coups and natural disasters have caused thousands of desperate Haitian men and women to seek a better life the United States. Haiti is still a dumping ground for U.S.-made products, while U.S. companies super-exploit Haitian labor. Numerous factory workers in Haiti live on less than $2 a day. Haiti came under a violent U.N. occupation following a second U.S.-orchestrated coup Aristide in 2004, which continues to this day.

Haitian immigrants have steadily migrated in significant numbers to the United States since the late 1950s, soon after François Duvalier—the infamous “Papa Doc”—became president of Haiti. The severe political repression that characterized the U.S.-backed Duvalier regime and that of his son Jean-Claude forced large numbers of Haitians to seek safe harbor in the United States. Haitian migration continued throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Whether by plane or by boat, through legal or extralegal means, Haitians sacrificed everything in a desperate attempt to reach U.S. shores. The Haitian diaspora in the United States exceeds 850,000 and may be close to 1 million. New York City alone has the second highest Haitian population in the world, only behind Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

Why is the U.S. government escalating persecution of Haitian immigrants now? Immigration policy is tightly coupled with the ups and downs of the capitalist economy. The United States is now in a deep economic recession, and employers are slashing jobs left and right. As the ranks of the unemployed swell up and popular discontent rises, the U.S. capitalist class looks to cut the size of this politically dangerous “excess labor force.”

For vulnerable immigrant workers, economic downturns often translate into increased deportation rates. The media and politicians blame immigrants for “stealing jobs” from U.S. citizens, yet not one word is uttered against the mass layoffs that truly steal millions of jobs to help bolster corporate bottom lines. The racist rhetoric is but a tool to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment that only divides and weakens the working class.

Workers—immigrant and non-immigrant—should be standing together to fight the layoffs and cutbacks imposed by the rich. The ruling class is still spending billions to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan. Corporations are dumping workers around the world, while increasing the exploitation of those still left in the factories and workshops.

The solution is organized, united struggle. The Party for Socialism and Liberation denounces these racist deportations and stands in complete unity with the Haitian people. As the famous Haitian national motto proclaims, “L’union fait la force”—Unity creates strength.

Stop the attack on immigrants!