Haitians Rush to Immigration Offices Over New US Policy As Biden, Trudeau Talk Possibility Of Military Intervention

As U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met up on Tuesday during the North American Leaders Summit to discuss, among other things, potential military intervention in Haiti, Haitians are lining up to potentially go to the U.S. under Biden’s new immigration program.

Hundreds of Haitians have flocked to the sole immigration office in Port-au-Prince after Biden announced the new policy where the U.S. will be accepting 30,000 immigrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, with many hoping for the opportunity to be able to live in the U.S. legally, AOL reported.

Some, like teacher and mother Jennyfer Leonard, said that they would like to leave Haiti, but are unwilling to risk their lives and their family's life to be smuggled into the U.S. illegally through boats. Many have flocked to the area hoping to get or renew their passports and check on their immigration application.

Haiti has been spiraling into instability in the past few years after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, with gangs controlling 60% of the capital and the government basically becoming nonfunctional after the last remaining senators of the country had their terms end on Monday, The Guardian reported.

“The constitution, which until now we have been referring to as the framework for political transition, is essentially just a letter, because none of the institutional architecture that it describes is currently in place,” International Crisis Group deputy director Renata Segura said.

“The only thing Haiti promises you is death,” accounting student Salomon Jean-Pierre said.

Canada has been in discussion with the U.S. and its allies over the situation in Haiti, hopefully pushing for a humanitarian mission to intervene militarily in the country’s escalating crisis. Biden and Trudeau reportedly discussed the potential mission during the North American Leaders Summit, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

While Trudeau has called the situation “heartbreaking,” he has also expressed his doubts about a direct military intervention in the country, saying that “[we] need to make sure that the solutions are driven by the people of Haiti themselves.”