[The United States] missed a big chance to do much more [for Haiti], at little cost. The US could have leveraged the power of international labor mobility to help Haiti in ways that happen to help America as well. In the immediate aftermath of the quake, the US made no adjustment at all to the barriers against exit from the disaster-hobbled country. (The US did halt deportations back to Haiti, but only for people already in the US before January 12, 2010: the move specifically exempted anyone who had fled after the quake.)
At the time, we called for the US to take action. We spelled out exactly what it could do (in a brief based on this research paper). One step was a no-brainer: thousands of Haitians already held approved immigration petitions to join close family members established in America but had to wait for years until a visa became available.… Many advocates tirelessly pushed hard for this, notably Steve Forester of the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.… Nothing happened.
Until the end of last year. On October 17, 2014, nearly five years after the earthquake, the US announced that it would allow US citizens and permanent residents to apply for permission for Haitian family members living in Haiti to come to the United States if their immigrant visa was due to become available within two years.
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