Being Kind--January 30, 2022

We need to be kind. 

While we drink our cup of coffee in the morning and stare at our phones, the internet shows us, often in real-time, what is going on in the world. This technology offers us a huge opportunity to be aware and to do so much good. Shouldn't we take advantage of this? Why not make the most of our short lives here and do as much good as possible? 

This morning the headlines in the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste stated that a recent survey revealed that more than 82 percent of Haitians want to leave Haiti. This is not surprising and I wonder why the number is not higher. The reasons for wanting to be through with Haiti are legion and do not need to be explained here. 

And under the radar, the Biden Administration continues to send Haitians back to Haiti from our southern border in Texas. Since September we have sent 151 flights of Haitians back to Haiti. According to Slate, January 27, 

"Our asylum system should prioritize giving asylum seekers a fair shot to make their case. Instead, we start with the goal of a quick deportation." 

Fifteen thousand Haitians have been returned without granting them the opportunity to claim asylum. 

We are sending Haitians back from the ocean as well. The Hill-- January 27-

"The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday intercepted a sailing vessel near the Bahamas believed to be bound for Florida with 191 Haitians aboard.

"The Haitians on the overloaded vessel were taken aboard two Coast Guard ships, given food and water, and returned to the Bahamas for eventual repatriation, Reuters reported."

"U.S. officials have intercepted more than 800 Haitians attempting the voyage since October, putting fiscal 2022 on pace to surpass the 1,527 Haitians rescued by the Coast Guard in fiscal 2021."

The Biden Administration is simply responding to politics and ignoring the welfare of the Haitians he is deporting. The Democrats view the Haitians who have been coming to our border as a major political liability for the upcoming midterm national elections. 

Before the policy of these expulsions began, in May of last year, the Biden administration designated Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), granting around 150,000 Haitians present in the United States before July 29 temporary permits to live and work in the country. Thus, these Haitians are being "protected" while at the same time we are sending thousands back from land and sea. 

And please keep in mind that our State Department advises Americans not to travel to Haiti. Or if we do, they advise making out a will before travel.

Our immigration system is obviously broken. And one way to fix it would be to do the humane thing, the kind thing.

Last year I had a patient in Haiti who was accepted for pro bono heart surgery in the United States. Mr. Valcin was a 40-year-old school teacher, husband, and father of two small children.  We applied for two nonimmigrant visas and for humanitarian parole for him to travel to the United States for heart surgery--all to no avail. He died in Haiti in May leaving his family with no breadwinner and no father. How am I supposed to explain this to Mr. Valcin's kids when they are old enough to understand?  

And today I have a young patient named Anya. Haitian Hearts brought her to the United States several years ago for heart surgery. She had a mechanical mitral valve placed and is doing fine. She is an architect and lives with her husband in Port-au-Prince. 

Anya is currently 16 weeks pregnant and she is a high-risk pregnancy due to her mechanical heart valve and her blood-thinning medication to keep her valve free from clot. It will be important for her to have state-of-the-art medical care as she nears term. 

Port-au-Prince is very dangerous and the hospitals and medical system, in general, are quite compromised. Receiving adequate medical care for anyone is problematic.  

I have reached out to one of our large local medical health care systems and proposed outpatient management of Anya's high-risk pregnancy and then safe delivery as an inpatient. Their answer was no. 

How could their answer be no? There are so many compelling reasons to accept Anya as a patient. There are so many reasons to say yes.

We all know that Anya and her baby deserve the best medical care available. As did Mr. Valcin. And the Haitians floating in the ocean or living under a bridge in Texas deserve a legal chance at asylum.

We hear about being kind. We teach our kids to be kind. Kindness solves so many problems. 

Isn't it time?

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org