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The Long History Behind Haitian Migrants At Our Border Last Week
How neo-liberal economic policies and NGOs crippled Haiti’s economy!
IN THE NEWS:
This past week, a senior U.S. envoy to Haiti resigned in protest to what he labeled as the “inhumane” and “counterproductive” deportations of Haitians. See NYTimes. One reason that these deportations are counterproductive is that these migrants are being sent to the very chaos from which they recently fled. Haiti is reeling from a political crisis, gang violence and a deadly earthquake last month. But this is NOT the whole story. The overwhelming majority of the Haitian migrants at our southern border fled Haiti in the disastrous aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. See WSJ.
To better understand Haiti’s “recovery” after its calamitous 2010 earthquake, we spoke to Mr. Mark Schuller, a professor of Anthropology and Nonprofit and NGO Studies at Northern Illinois University and its affiliate University in Haiti. Professor Schuller has been studying NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and Haiti since the beginning of this century, and he was on the ground in Haiti just 8 days after its calamitous 2010 earthquake. He has written and co-edited several books about Haiti and NGOs, including a book titled Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti. He has also produced…
