Helping Haitians in the US

Opinion: May 28, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times: The Obama administration last week extended what’s known as “temporary protected status” for Haitians living in the United States. The decision means an estimated 58,000 undocumented Haitians can remain here for an additional 18 months while their homeland struggles to rebuild from a deadly 2010 earthquake.

Temporary protected status was designed to provide a haven for foreigners in the United States who are unable to return safely to their home countries because of an armed conflict, an environmental disaster or some other extraordinary but temporary situation. The program has drawn criticism because it has been abused: Some immigrant groups have been allowed to remain long after the crisis back home had passed. Critics also argue that such relief is all too often granted based on political influence rather than need.

The criticism may be merited in some cases, but not this one. Haiti is barely hanging on. Nearly a million people remain homeless, many of them living in tattered tents amid debris. Medical care, food and water are still hard to come by. The rubble — a constant reminder of the more than 300,000 dead — has yet to be cleared.

The Department of Homeland Security isn’t giving Haitians a free pass. Rather, officials understand that sending thousands of people back to a nation brought to its knees by hurricanes, earthquakes and a deadly cholera epidemic would surely deepen the humanitarian crisis that has already claimed too many lives.