We are now hearing that some Haitians, and perhaps others, who had settled in Brazil and Chile, having made the long, expensive trip from their second homes to Del Rio, are now being deported back to Haiti, to their chagrin.
Ironically some may have exchanged legal or semi-legal status in their new countries, only to be treated like the illegal aliens they are once they reached Texas.
What our government’s publicists should do is to make sure that the émigré communities in Brazil and elsewhere learn quickly and vividly about these deportations. Someone in our embassy in Port-au-Prince should quickly gather photos and recorded interviews of those being flown there from Del Rio.
Then news stories, photos, video, and radio reports should be aimed at the Haitian communities in the Brazils and the Chiles of the world, to discourage future illegal migration to the U.S.
As a some-time governmental publicist, I can see our embassy in Haiti gathering such material, either through contract employees or embassy staff, more easily than distributing it effectively in Brazil, for example. I suspect that the U.S. government in the latter country has only the slightest knowledge of Haitians there, or how to reach them. But some money and energy should be expended to contact them.
The material should carry the message: Better half a loaf than none. Don’t risk your family’s resources, and their safety, by trying to get to the U.S.
Stay where you are, don’t find yourself being deported not to Brazil, but back to Haiti.