Haitian Migration

This needs to stop.

On May 8th a Turks and Caicos naval vessel repeatedly crashed into an overloaded boat of Haitian migrants causing it to capsize, killing over 60 people.

The plight of the Haitian people is overwhelmingly sad. Haiti holds the ominous title of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The majority of Haiti's eight million people live in squalid conditions and face of lifetime of abject poverty.

Every year hundreds of Haitians embark the treacherous journey on the ocean with the fleeting hope that they will make it to a new country and have a chance at a new life.

But it wasn't always this way...



Haiti was the first independent black republic and the place of the only successful slave rebellion in history.

It was centuries of exploitation by ruthless colonial rulers and more recently, repeated military interventions by the United States and Canada that have retarded its development and prevented it from industrializing. Now it is the people of Haiti that continue to pay this price.

There isn't a simple solution. The ever increasing number of Haitians that risk their lives escaping is just one way that the situation in Haiti has manifested itself. Still, it desperately requires our attention. Haitian migrants need to be protected and granted asylum whenever possible. The United Nations, the Red Cross and a multitude of NGO's need a stronger presence within Haiti. We must give these people a viable alternative to taking to the deadly seas.