During a discussion about U.S. migration policies in January 2018, President Donald Trump exploded with anger at lawmakers who were seeking to extend immigration protections to Haitians, Salvadorans, and Africans at risk of deportation.
“Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?” Trump asked the politicians in the room. The comments caused a major controversy at the time, with Democrats pointing to them as clear evidence of Trump’s racial bias.
Yet, as inappropriate as those comments were at the time, it is difficult to look at some of these countries seven years later and not come away with a feeling of dread. Perhaps the most depressing of all is Haiti, a nation whose entire history has been defined by repeated trials and tribulations, horrendous weather events, systemic corruption, government-imposed repression, and, periodically, absences of authority. Trump was wrong to typecast Haiti itself as unworthy. But his impolitic label is an apt description for Haiti’s political elites, who are often more interested in fighting each other for power than they are in meeting the needs of the people they are supposed to represent.
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