U.S. Immigration Policy on Haitian Migrants

The devastation caused by the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti focused world attention on the humanitarian crisis and prompted U.S. leaders to reconsider policies on Haitian migration.1 Most recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has stated: "An epidemic cholera strain has been confirmed in Haiti, causing the first cholera outbreak in Haiti in at least 100 years."2 Some members of Congress have long criticized the interdiction and mandatory detention of Haitians who attempted to enter the United States without proper immigration documents as too harsh given country conditions. Proponents of immigration control policies have held sway for many years in large part because they argue that more lenient treatment of Haitians would serve as a magnet for illegal migration from the poorest nation in this hemisphere. Whether the balance should tip more toward humanitarian policies as a consequence of the humanitarian crises that resulted from last year's earthquake in Haiti is an issue before the 112th Congress.