A recent change in the US immigration system has fueled another crisis in the Caribbean, as Haitians flock to leave the crime-ridden nation and American parents watch with their hands tied as their legally adopted children fail to you can meet them in the US.
Dozens of adopted children have been unable to obtain Haitian passports, the final step in the adoption process, as immigration offices in Haiti have been overwhelmed since early January after the Biden administration said it would accept up to 30,000 immigrants from Haiti. , Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela per month.
Passport applications have skyrocketed with reports showing applications going from an average of 1,500 a day to 5,000, the Miami Herald first reported earlier this week.
Haitians wait outside an immigration office to apply for a passport in Port-au-Prince on January 10, 2023. (RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images)
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But US policy has done more than invade Haitian immigration facilities, it has prevented children legally adopted by parents in the US from obtaining the necessary documentation to board the two-hour flight from Port-au-Prince to Miami. .
“I just want to be clear,” one foster father told Fox News Digital, “My wife and I really support this idea. I think they should give people a safe and legal way to come to the United States.”
“But the thing is, this program also requires applicants to have a Haitian passport,” he continued. “The passport office is totally overwhelmed.”
Bryan Hanlon and his wife Julie, who live in the Washington, DC area, became the legal parents of Peterson, 5, and Gina, 6, in August 2022 after beginning their adoption process in 2018. The couple was paired with the brother-sister. couple in May 2021 when they were respectively 3 and 4 years old.
Photo of two adopted Haitian children, Peterson, 5, and Gina, 6, who are waiting for passports to enter the US. (Bryan Hanlon of his adopted Haitian children)
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Adoptions outside of Haiti have been notoriously difficult for years, Hanlon explained, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 have made it even more difficult.
Haiti has gradually fallen into a state of chaos following a series of devastating earthquakes and hurricanes since 2010, and the economic situation has deteriorated to the point that Haiti is now the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and gangs have taken over. .
Adopted children must make an appointment to obtain a passport, which in theory should give them priority over other Haitians lining up in front of immigration offices.
But the situation has actually become so dire that people have started scaling the sides of immigration offices, climbing ladders to cut through once inside and causing such chaos that applicants with pre-arranged appointments are either unable to enter the offices or have had their appointments canceled without a rescheduled date.
Haitian Immigration Director Jean Osselin Lambert told the Miami Herald this week that the crowds of people camping out outside offices have become so immense that immigration employees can’t get into their offices either.
Haitians try to get into the immigration and passport center in Port-au-Prince January 22, 2010. Hundreds of Haitians line up every day to try to get a passport so they can enter the US after a change on immigration policy under the Biden administration. (LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Image)
Boisterous crowds at the Central Office for Immigration and Emigration in Port-au-Prince on Friday prompted security officials to fire tear gas inside the building in a bid to control the situation. The building was then evacuated according to local reports.
American parents and the US National Adoption Council are calling on the Biden administration to intervene.
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A letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, obtained by Fox News Digital, urged the department to allow adopted children to enter the US without passports, a move the department allowed just three months ago.
“There is simply no rational basis for the Department of State to refuse to exercise its legal authority to provide a safe and legal alternative when the Haitian passport office is functionally closed to these children,” the letter said.
A crisis provision under Title 22 allowed the State Department to allow access to the US for Haitian children adopted without a passport between mid-October and mid-November.
The exemption was allowed in coordination with the Haitian government after the nation effectively shut down following a months-long fuel blockade after gangs surrounded a major fuel terminal from September to November.
A father tries to get his daughter through the door of the Haitian immigration office as they wait their turn to apply for a passport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, February 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
In emails reviewed by Fox News Digital, the Hanlons have also repeatedly written to the State Department highlighting not only the dangerous situation surrounding immigration offices, but the complete inability to secure an appointment or obtain a passport.
But the State Department maintains that the offices are still “functioning” and therefore has refused to enforce the crisis waiver.
“They say the same thing over and over again,” Hanlon said. “We’re just asking the State Department to recognize that if Haiti doesn’t give us a passport appointment, we can’t get a passport. We are in the same situation as families in the fall that we are in, in that we cannot get a passport to bring our children home.
“We feel totally abandoned by our government,” he added. “They created this situation and it doesn’t seem like they’re lifting a finger to do anything.”
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A State Department spokesman said it understands that “it is currently difficult for adoptive parents to obtain a Haitian passport” and that it remains “committed to assisting adoptive parents.”
“We will continue to engage with the Haitian government on this issue and provide updates with families, US government agencies, US accreditation agencies, adoption service providers, state authorities, and the Haitian community. adoption in general,” added the spokesperson.
The department did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital about whether Blinken will respond to the letter or if the department will again waive passport requirements amid the current crisis.
