Haitian migration: the new challenges

Haitian migration: the new challenges

Haitian migration has become such a delicate issue that it covers decisive debates for the future of the country. After decades of "boat people" navigating the seas trying to reach the American coast, the migratory flow to Brazil, Chile, Argentina has been growing up since 2011. While public debate remains focused on traditional causes and consequences of Haitian migration, the analysis of its impact on individual behavior, which may help to reduce the magnitude of the phenomenon, remains flawed essentially for political reasons. Thus, as far as Haitian migration is concerned, there are what is said and what is not explicitly stated. What is usually said tends to lure those who are candidates for migration by illusion. However, the unspoken truth revives concrete perceptions.

Through this article, I’m trying to question, as if it was a dialogue with the reader, the false perceptions and the detrimental effects of Haitian migration that public opinion or political discourse are reluctant to tackle.  

In Haiti, a candidate for migration is generally a young person between the ages of 25 and 35, embittered by the continuing deterioration of living conditions. The notion of "rich Diaspora" is unknown in this country, where people are mainly emigrated for economic precariousness and political insecurity. There is no need for in-depth studies to understand that Haitian migration is a political and socio-economic migration. The National Migration Board (Office National de la Migration), established in 1995, works to discourage any willingness to take the path of illegal migration to escape either misery or persecution.

I think it is easy to understand that it is not such a political institution that can curb young people’s desire to leave. In fact, I will show you later there is, on the contrary, political will to maintain conditions that lead to emigration. That’s why, even after the establishment of the O.N.M, migration waves are constantly increasing. It can even be said that from 1995 to 2017, Haitian migration has become so important that it has finally taken the turn of a regional problem which ended up making Latin America leaders react on the issue.

The United States and Latin American states stress the dangers of illegal migration. It is not the condition of being "undocumented", that is, presence without any official authorization on their territory that forms the basis of the worries, it is on the other hand the conditions of travel in which Haitian people tried to flee their frustrations. Enhanced controls on the coasts and borders have not weakened the willingness of the candidates for migration. The adventure is motivated by the deep sense that it is better to risk everything rather than continue to endure poverty and bad governance.

The host countries have not limited themselves to recall the risks of death, trafficking, exploiting illegal immigrants through mafia networks, they have softened the eligibility of Haitian people and offered their support to Haiti when Haitian migration had caused a conflict with the Dominican Republic, which had decided in 2013 to denationalize Haitian people in irregular situation born on its territory. Basically, the Dominican Republic was feeling increasingly threatened by the Haitian waves of migration. On the spur of the moment, political speeches, pointless as always, underscored the need for both States to live peacefully together and, the traditional causes and consequences of migration as to demonstrate that people are only safe in their native country.

Again, these speeches were so empty and futile that instead of shattering the motives to emigrate, they systematically produced the opposite effects. The expansion of the labor market and employment prospects in the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile and Argentina led more young people to become candidates for migration. In addition, the situation in Haiti got worse due to other natural disasters that further undermined living conditions. Migration is seen as the ideal escape from bad governance, increasing insecurity in the country, and the humanitarian crises caused by the 2010 earthquake, hurricanes and floods.

Facing this situation, Haitian people have become a migrant people. Whether for family reunion or for political or economic reasons, every Haitian has become a potential candidate for migration. When they are bonded with the country through family or professional ties, those who have the opportunity refuse to give birth to their child in Haiti. And these attachments explain only a temporary resistance, but not a visceral attachment to the country. As soon as there is the opportunity to leave with the least possible pitfalls, we realize that families do not hesitate to abandon the country.

I have to talk here about the brain drain. It is seen as the departure of intellectual forces and technical skills to foreign countries. In the case of Haiti, there is an unspoken truth that I must stress. It is also seen in the departure of family members a hope for those who stayed in the country. Living in better organized societies, they are more likely to land a job to keep providing their families. It is the idea that migration contributes to reduce poverty in Haiti. It is obvious. Transfers of money are far more substantial and significant than all the aid granted to Haiti. However, once again, I could note a certain silence on the reasons why these transfers could not influence the change in the living environment. This is an unspoken truth that I’d like to address.

I took care, in the first paragraphs, to emphasize what I mean by the traditional causes and consequences of Haitian migration. Succinctly, the causes refer to poverty and poor governance in the country. The consequences include the brain drain, the risks of exploitation, deportation, trafficking, integration difficulties, social and racial discrimination, and so on. I am sure that in recalling this, I teach nothing to anyone. As I said above, it is always a matter of false and empty political speeches to highlight these elements in the hope of portraying migration as a dangerous and unfavorable adventure.

I consider the traditional aspects as what is usually said. I pointed that out in the beginning. What is generally said on this topic is only evidences or rumors. The truth about Haitian migration is highlighted by differences in the living standard between Haiti and other countries in America. There is no doubt that other countries offer less uncertain and less precarious living conditions. The substantial value of aid from the Haitian diaspora is unquestionable. Besides the evidence, there are also rumors about the Haitian migration. These rumors fuel false perceptions.

Perhaps you know the story of this Haitian man who, after having risked his life on a makeshift craft, had the happiness to finally reach safely a beach in the United States. As he made his way to announce his arrival to his contacts, he noticed from a far something carried by the wind. Once this thing came to his feet, he leaned over to pick it up and found out that it was a dollar bill that had been made a small ball. At the first phone call to his family in Haiti, he made them understand that he just arrived and already started picking up money on the ground.

The moral of the story is that Haitian migration is also encouraged by the false perceptions created by rumors or television, I must add today the internet. While it is true that there are opportunities in host countries, a minimum of preparation is required to be able to seize them.

Which leads me to talk about what I call the unspoken truth about Haitian migration. Perhaps I should have started here. Because, in my opinion, the very purpose of this article is to draw attention to the unspoken truth about Haitian migration. I mean by that some aspects of social and political life that are related to the issue of migration, but which are not questioned when their understanding is likely to shed light on possible solutions.

The first element of the unspoken truth is the political will to maintain favorable conditions for migration. Don’t be surprised! Poverty in Haiti is not primarily an economic problem. It is just like bad governance a political problem. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, other countries in the region, starting with Cuba and then the Dominican Republic, followed by the United States, and in recent years Brazil and Chile, considered Haiti as a supplier of cheap labor. And, most of the time, this workforce is both inexpensive and qualified.

Without asserting it loudly and clearly, these countries, facing the need for manpower in agricultural fields (sugar cane exploitation in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, tomatoes and oranges exploitation in the United States), use political levers to curb the development of Haiti. Sometimes they encourage the corruption of political leaders, sometimes they finance socio-political convulsions. I was very surprised when Brazilian leaders presented the elimination of visa quotas for Haitian people as a humanitarian gesture. No one dared say that is false. Obviously, this is not a humanitarian gesture. Brazil, facing an urgent need for labor to honor contracts for the construction of certain infrastructures, has only followed the example of the other countries in the region, by softening the eligibility conditions for Haitians to get in their territory.

The incentive to migration is a political weapon in the hands of other countries in the region, mainly the United States, for which Haiti represents a large market and a provider of labor for agricultural exploitation. Most of the workers in these fields are Haitian and Latinos.

Haitian politicians, themselves, have no interest in changing conditions. On the contrary! In this situation, they find the means to justify political persecution against their families, which will benefit from the softening of the eligibility conditions for Haitians in the host countries as political refugees; then the means to scare off political opponents who are able to oppose their demagogy and work to change the status quo. That is why the political discourse is always false on this question. For our politicians, migration is also a political weapon. They use it for the benefit of their families and, in some cases, to drive out fierce opponents.

The second element of unspoken truth about migration that struck me is the silence of public opinion about the growing number of Haitian parents who deliberately choose to give birth to their children abroad. It is also an aspect of Haitian migration that is not sufficiently discussed. When I said the Haitian people is a migrant people, I also take into account this aspect. It is not the search for better care that motivates these decisions. No one is fooled! It is the desire to ensure a less uncertain future for children in better-structured countries. In a few decades, it will follow a Haitian population including a high percentage of young people with dual nationality who will logically tend to want to live in their native country because they were not born in Haiti in order to benefit from better opportunities to study and work.

This situation is not brain drain, but it is tantamount to the loss of hopes, if the education of these children did not inculcate a true sense of moral belonging to the Haitian nation.

When the sense of belonging has not been destroyed so far by frustration or lack of knowledge of the country’s culture, the brain drain and the loss of hopes can turn to the advantage of the country. A kind of reverse of the medal. These Haitian people, who have emigrated or who were born abroad, have gained experience by evolving in better organized structures and have received training in more advanced universities and technical schools, might return to contribute to improve the living environment. As I said earlier, it is a hypothesis comparable to brain gain, with the only difference, it is contingent on the right education in favor of Haitian citizenship.

The last thing I want to address is the repercussions of money transfers that determine the economic weight of Haitian migration. I have already reminded you how important the help of the Haitian Diaspora is in meeting the basic needs of families. However, what remains unspoken is that wages are not always reasonable in host countries and Haitian immigrants are sometimes compelled to live in very simple conditions, with only access to water and electricity, without television subscription, internet service, no health insurance, and so on, just to be able to keep supporting the rest of the family living in Haiti.

Personally, when I see this kind of situation, I see a great sense of sacrifice. Because even with a minimum wage, living conditions are by far different from those experienced by officials and professionals who are well known remunerated in Haiti. In fact, it is a way to say when family responsibilities are heavy in Haiti, they continue to weigh on the lives of concerned and responsible Haitian immigrants.

However, with rumors that fuel false perceptions around Haitian migration, many young people whose parents or relatives emigrated continue to believe that wealth is just within reach in foreign countries. This belief is most often reinforced by television and the internet, which allow them to understand that success will be resulting from the least effort in better-equipped countries. It is in this sense that Haitian migration helps, on the one hand, to cope with daily hardships and, on the other hand, to make young people less responsible for their own lives.

In Haiti, many young people, driven by the hope of emigrating, drop out school, lose interest in public life, care less and less about their usefulness to Haitian society. It is difficult to ask them to build a small or medium-sized business. They will take it like an insult because they will not understand why a parent or a relative, living in a more advanced country, would like to keep them in Haiti to run a business. Their wish is no other than to emigrate with the intention of enjoying also the sweetness of life as they imagine it.

Even though Haitian migration is of the utmost help to the Haitian population, under such conditions it cannot help to pull the country out of the economic slump in which it finds itself. So, there are too many unspoken truths about Haitian migration. It is appropriate to unveil them in the hope of provoking a change in perceptions. It's only by promoting objective information that Haitian migration may stop being a political weapon.

Finally, it is certain that I will never be able to discuss everything about this intricate issue. The dialogue is not finished yet. The debate remains open. How can we cope with the magnitude of this phenomenon to better identify its social, economic and political challenges? Let's keep digging to discover the unspoken truths around the Haitian migration.