The Political Interest Putting People Second

By Michael Kramer

Even now, with all hell breaking loose in Haiti, Bill Clinton won't relax his draconian refugee policy. Denying political asylum to large numbers of poor black Haitians "is what all this was about in the first place," says U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright -- and it still is. The Administration's sweet talk about restoring democracy in Haiti is merely tactical, a reflection of the assumption that those who enjoy liberty will stay put. Meanwhile on the ground, the situation worsens daily. "Anyone can be killed at any time," says Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the exiled President, and late-night disappearances are becoming common. Foreigners can flee at will, and many are doing so, including those charged with monitoring human-rights violations, but the thousands of Haitians who have been systematically repressed since the 1991 military coup are stuck. No matter, says the President who ran on a platform of putting people first -- including, not incidentally, the Haitian asylum seekers whom Clinton promised he wouldn't return "until some shred of democracy is restored there." No, says the President, affirming his postelection policy of forced repatriation, "We still believe that we should process the Haitians who are asking for asylum in Haiti, and that that is the safest thing for them." Translation: it's the safest political course for Clinton.

Let's get real: in a society where informants are everywhere and potential refugees are regularly jailed and beaten for merely seeking asylum, Clinton's "in-country processing" operation is absurd. Those who are scared enough to brave the consequences currently face at least a six-month wait before being interviewed, and in violation of international law are denied protection in the interim. ("How could we protect them?" asks a U.S. official, missing the point. "The place is a war zone.") The bottom line: according to an undisputed Americas Watch report, 14,590 Haitians have applied for asylum since Clinton took office. As of July 30, 307 have been allowed to immigrate to the U.S. "The program's driven by the predisposition to reject claims," says a disgusted Justice Department official, "and we've got quite good at it."

Treating Haitians like other refugees would mean admitting them to the U.S. for immigration hearings. Since he won't do that, Clinton at least ought to establish safe-haven processing centers outside Haiti. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is the obvious choice; it's virtually next door. But "Gitmo doesn't have enough tents and other relief supplies," says a Pentagon official with a straight face.

As Haiti deteriorates, the desperate are building boats again -- and who can blame them? Even Clinton is now railing at the regime's oppression, a reality all along but one the President had previously ignored because his asylum stance had demanded it: if the poor in Haiti could be said to suffer only economic deprivation, they could be denied entry to the U.S. So naturally, as more and more Haitians fear that Aristide will never return, many are again tempted to take their chances at sea, hoping, perhaps, that Clinton's conscience might finally be pricked by the words of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. The Haitians, Blackmun wrote last June, ask "only that the U.S., land of refugees and guardian of freedom, cease forcibly driving them back to detention, abuse and death . . . We should not close our ears to ((them))." But "we will," says a Clinton aide. "We will turn them away again as we did before. Isn't that clear by now?" Well, yes, it is. So is the fact that, at least with respect to this problem, the President loves humanity only in the abstract -- and that there are citizens of a tiny, poor Caribbean nation that he doesn't seem to care very much about at all.