Is Obama administration sending Haitians to their deaths?

The Obama administration may be violating the human rights of hundreds of people whom it is deporting to Haiti despite knowledge of the deplorable conditions there. Worse, some of the people they are deporting have lived in the United States since earliest childhood.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (Catholic Online) - More than 250 Haitians have been deported since January 2011, despite the knowledge that upon arrival they will be detained in Haitian jails which are so deplorable that they violate human rights.

The Obama administration has a policy against deporting people to situations where they will face serious medical and humanitarian difficulties. Despite that clear policy, the administration continues to act in stark contrast to its own promises.

Currently, people illegally residing in the US are subject to deportation if they are convicted of a crime. The severity of the crime does not matter, individuals convicted of petty crimes are still subject to deportation the same as convicted felons.

In most cases, illegal immigrants returning to their native countries face challenges, but those challenges do not typically threaten their health or safety. That is not the case in Haiti.

Haitian jails are widely regarded as among the world's worst. They are cramped, overcrowded, and entirely unsanitary. Diseases such as typhus, cholera, and shingles are common. Inmates lack clean water, soap, and even basic waste disposal. Some inmates die while in custody, or shortly after release because of illness. And since the January 12, 2010 earthquake, the conditions have only worsened.

Despite being fully aware of the dangerous conditions in Haiti, the Obama administration resumed deportations to that country and has subjected hundreds of people to the risk of disease and death in Haitian jails.

When deportees arrive in Haiti, about half of them which Haitian officials deem as being "serious criminals" are sent to the jails. Often they are told their detentions will not last more than three days, in accord with Haitian law. However most detentions can last for nearly 2 weeks. That's more than enough time for a temporary detention to turn into a death sentence.

Complicating matters further, the designation of "serious criminal" is largely arbitrary. No legal definition exists, and local authorities in Port-au-Prince make relatively arbitrary determinations often, without even reviewing the case files sent ahead by US authorities, or even bothering to interview the deportees themselves. This means that violent and nonviolent offenders -- petty criminals and hardened ones, stand a roughly even chance of enduring the living hell of a local jails.

To add insult to injury, some of the deportees are anything but recent illegal immigrants. In several cases, those being deported were brought to the United States by their parents when they were children. That means the United States for all intents and purposes, is the only country these people have known. Some have gone to school, and even worked in United States, American citizens in every sense, except legal.

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Fully aware of these conditions and circumstances, the Obama administration and immigration officials continue to deport people to Haiti in the full knowledge that their health, and even lives are in danger.

It's not supposed to be this way, particularly for an administration that seeks to boasts about how well it follows the rule of law and treats all people.

Certainly, nobody believes that crimes should go unpunished, or that people who enter the country illegally should be free of all sanctions. However, punishments are supposed to fit the crime.

People who enter the country seeking a better life are not committing a crime that warrants the possibility of death. Children brought into the country by their parents, who are raised in the states, attend school, and find work should certainly not be treated in this way. 

If the present administration wishes to maintain a shred of credibility when it speaks about issues concerning human rights and the dignity of all persons, it can start by halting these illegal deportations, and should continue until the dignity of all human beings is respected -- as a matter of both principle and law.

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