Immigration and Education

Early yesterday morning, I was the first person in the shortest line outside the US embassy in Port-au-Prince.  I stood by the sign that had a picture of a US passport and read,  "American Citizens Sitwayen Ameriken."  (I was glad it was written in English and in Creole.  I could read it twice!)  The lines for people applying for visas to enter the US were much longer and many people were already waiting when I arrived at 5:40 am.  The sister who coordinates the drivers in Port-au-Prince suggested we leave early because of traffic, even though we left 15 minutes later than she suggested we successfully completely avoided traffic.  The hour and  20 minutes of waiting before the building even opened provided me with plenty of time to ponder the shortness of my line and the length of the others.  It is not surprising that there are more Haitians are applying for visas to enter the US than there are Americans who are residing in Haiti who need to renew passports before they expire.

 There are not nearly enough jobs and opportunities in Haiti.  I don't know that people really want to leave their country and culture, but certainly, they want to have their basic needs met and support their families.   

This morning back in Cap-Haitian after teaching a high school conversational English class, while waiting for a ride, I read this article on NPR's website .  Just minutes after I finished reading it, the driver put the radio on and the person speaking was explaining in Creople what the end of the TPS (Temporary Protection Status) program will mean for Haitians who have been living in the US with TPS status since the 2010 earthquake.  I felt sad. 

Perhaps because I had just spent an hour with high school students, I thought especially of the high school student who was interviewed in the NPR article.  Since he is a junior he should be able to finish high school before he has to legally return to Haiti. What will he do once he gets here? What about students who are younger than he is?  What will it be like for young people who have now spent most of their school-aged years in the US if they have to come to Haiti and attend school here?  The education systems are very different.  Even if they were born in Haiti they would now be much more accustomed to the cultural expectations of an American classroom than of a Haitian one. Will the Haitian government plan programs for these students to help them with the transition?  At the very least will they allow them take tests in English instead of French?   Unfortunately, I am skeptical that their educational needs will be met. 

From my perspective, the educational needs of many children who are here now are not being adequately met.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs there are generally no services for those with learning disabilities or educational program for children with developmental disabilities.  Last week, because of protests in the city of Cap-Haitian, I learned that there are public high school students who lack teachers.  Someone told me that they will need to wait until January to start the school year.  The public school students showed up in protest at private schools and forced themselves through gates into the schoolyards to bring attention to this problem one day early last week. On another day they caused traffic jams, reportedly even lying in the streets to stop traffic in different areas downtown.  Schools in down-town Cap-Haitian were closed on Thursday and Friday because of the possibility of more protests.  According to the Voice of America website, the students were protesting that they lack teachers while the country's resources are being used to reinstate the Haitian army. 

The educational needs came to my mind since I am working in schools this year, but of course, there are many other complications and difficulties that will occur in Haiti and in the US if this is truly implemented. What about the children (US citizens) who were born while their parents were in the US with TPS?    Personally, I am not sure who will benefit from the end of TPS status for Haitians other than maybe those running for-profit prisons for detained immigrants.   Many people in Haiti are dependent upon their relatives abroad sending money to help them.  When this goes into effect some of those relatives instead of helping out financially will be here in Haiti looking for jobs that are extremely scarce.  I imagine some of them may one day find themselves waiting in very long lines early in the morning hoping to get visas to return to the US. 



Family, community members, and friends in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!

 I have much to be grateful for and on the top of my list are my family, my community, and my friends. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my updates.