# Should the US relief effort in Haiti include immigration of refugees? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818 "2010-01-13T19:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/41 "2010-01-18T23:35:25Z")
Absolutely not for a variety of reasons. I would think the criteria would be hard to define. Even if defined it would be abused. Not maybe abused but absolutely abused. Those Hatians with connections or money would get to the top of the line. Not only would this hurt those who really needed the help but it would already be a further brain drain (using the notion that a number of those clever enough to get on any list are probably fairly entrepenurial people) which would further cripple Hati’s recovery. Lastly, how many should we take? All of them? Should we take refugees from every natural disaster around the planet? The answer is of course, no. We help them rebuild. We look to acheivements of cities after natural disasters and we apply those rules to Hati. We stay involved through free trade and perhaps real aid for longer than just the basic recovery from the earthquake. But no, we don’t take in endless streams of refugees. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/42 "2010-01-19T11:11:01Z")
> [@Silverstreak\_Wonder](#): > > Maybe I missed it, but the answer is no we should not, and what to do is tell them just to walk to the other side of the island where there is a much better run place Oh, of course! Why didn’t the rest of us think of that? All we needed to do was to get all those injured, starving, dehydrated, and diseased refugees to get up and _walk_ two hundred kilometres over poorly maintained, earthquake-ravaged roads, or alternatively through densely forested and mountainous terrain, to the other side of the island, where the local infrastructure has surely been designed to accommodate the rapid absorbtion and treatment of several hundred thousand physically and economically devastated people. > [@](#): > > they would fit in fine because it is the same peoples. News flash: It is “the same peoples” all over the earth. We’re all human. We’re all capable of the same empathy, charity, and helpfulness, limited only by the resources at our disposal. And the US has a hell of a lot more resources than the Dominican Republic. ---
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/43 "2010-01-19T21:57:21Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s bound to come up eventually. So what say you? Depends if you are prepared for the fiscal costs from low skill migration during high unemployment & possibility of creating a high crime underclass. The most through and investigations of the fiscal impacts of immigration, by the National Research Council, found that low-skill immigration costs $120.000 per immigrant, in 2009 dollars. They even used the over-optimistic assumption that immigrants 100% converged to natives in 3 generations (not true empirically). So the fiscal cost of 50% of Haiti immigrating to the US would be $600 billion. That is comparable to the direct costs of the Iraq war so far. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/44 "2010-01-19T22:20:55Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > [Chavez says US occupying Haiti in the name of aid](http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DW20100117?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true) [And not he alone.](http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/us_accused_of_militarizing_relief_effort) ---
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/45 "2010-01-19T22:31:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Chavez says US occupying Haiti in the name of aid I agree, the US should just leave & let the looters do what they want. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/46 "2010-01-19T22:57:05Z")
I do not believe that it is good policy for the United States to take in earthquake related refugees. It is not a good long term strategy compared to providing aid to assist the country in recovering. That said, I do agree with the temporary moratorium on deportations and the temporary refugee status allocated to individuals already in the country. Ordinarily I would be against activity that rewarded illegal activity but it strikes me as cruel to send people back into the maelstrom that is earthquake hit Haiti. While Haiti does not look like a pleasant place at the best of times, there is a world of difference between that and the sudden disorientating destruction that is the current situation. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/47 "2010-01-20T03:46:43Z")
> [@Chen019](#): > > I agree, the US should just leave & let the looters do what they want. [Might be better than the alternative.](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100201/scahill) > [@](#): > > **US Mercenaries Set Sights on Haiti** > > By Jeremy Scahill > > January 19, 2010 > > We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans, and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about “looters.” After Katrina, the number of private security companies registered (and unregistered) multiplied overnight. Banks, wealthy individuals, the US government all hired private security. I even encountered Israeli mercenaries operating an armed checkpoint outside of an elite gated community in New Orleans. They worked for a company called Instinctive Shooting International. (That is not a joke). > > Now, it is kicking into full gear in Haiti. > > The Orwellian-named mercenary trade group International Peace Operations Association didn’t waste much time in offering the “services” of its member companies to swoop down on Haiti for some old-fashioned “humanitarian assistance” in the form of disaster profiteering. Within hours of the massive earthquake in Haiti, the IPOA created a special webpage for prospective clients, saying: “In the wake of the tragic events in Haiti, a number of IPOA’s member companies are available and prepared to provide a wide variety of critical relief services to the earthquake’s victims.” > > While some of the companies specialize in rapid housing construction, emergency relief shelters and transportation, others are private security companies that operate in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as Triple Canopy, the company that took over Blackwater’s massive State Department contract in Iraq. For years, Blackwater played a major role in IPOA until it left the group following the 2007 Nisour Square massacre. > > \ > > Beyond the establishment mercenary industry’s activities in Haiti, look for more stories like this one: > > On January 15, a Florida-based company called All Pro Legal Investigations registered the URL [Haiti-Security.com](http://Haiti-Security.com). It is basically a copy of the company’s existing US website but is now targeted for business in Haiti, claiming the “purpose of this site is to assure construction and reconstruction companies considering a Haiti project that professional security is available.” > > “All Protection and Security has made a commitment to the Haitian community and will provide professional security against any threat to prosperity in Haiti,” the site proclaims. “Job sites and supply convoys will be protected against looters and vandals. Workers will be protected against gang violence and intimidation. The people of Haiti will recover, with the help of the good people from the world over.” > > The company boasts that it has run “Thousands of successful missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.” As for its personnel, “Each and every member of our team is a former Law Enforcement Officer or former Military service member,” the site claims. “If Operator experience, training and qualifications matter, choose All Protection and Security for your high-threat Haiti security needs.” > > Among the services offered are: “High Threat terminations,” dealing with “worker unrest,” armed guards and “Armed Cargo Escorts.” Oh, and apparently they are currently hiring. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/48 "2010-01-21T04:35:44Z")
Didn’t Africa already ask for them to move back to Africa? Why not let half of them move to Africa, and the other half move to Communist China? Problem solved! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/49 "2010-01-21T04:48:43Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > If you have a new parallel to Godwin’s law, demonstrate it with evidence. Otherwise your experience is nothing but a red herring based on your limited life situation. Who in the hell pooped in your Wheaties? Wait, I know…her first name rhymes with “Smellin’” and her last name rhymes with “Berry”…wait, what’s her name, she’s that new intrusive moderator, hangs in the game room being overbearing on smack talk, idk…any ideas? Make the electrocution short, it was only a joke after all. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818/50 "2010-01-21T04:51:11Z")
It could help, but remember, the actual damage is largely in Port-au-Prince. A lot of people could simply be evacuated to other parts of the country. Cap Haitien could probably take a good number, & camps could be built in the countryside in the central part of the country for most of those made homeless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-relief-effort-in-haiti-include-immigration-of-refugees/524818.md?page=2)