The Perplexing Cycle of Humanitarian Crises and Selective Solicitudes
The overflowing Ohio church, filled with concerned citizens supporting Haitian migrants facing the potential end of their Temporary Protected Status (TPS), paints a picture of urgent humanitarian concern. Curiously, the urgency often felt by the public doesn't quite match the policy makers' timeline when the root causes are, shall we say, inconvenient to acknowledge. FIRST INSTANCE: Cold War
'Refugees' and Selective Empathy Washington's approach to 'protected status' for those fleeing destabilized nations has a long and rather inconsistent pedigree. Consider the 1960s, when Cuban refugees were welcomed with open arms and granted swift resettlement aid after Fidel Castro's revolution. While genuine political repression was a factor, the swift and expansive welcome was undoubtedly
amplified by Cold War optics, painting the US as a haven from communism. Meanwhile, Haitian asylum seekers in the 1970s and 80s, fleeing brutal dictatorial regimes like that of Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier – a regime often tacitly or explicitly supported by the US government until its utility waned – faced detention, deportation, and an uphill battle for any form of protection (Human Rights
Watch, 1990). The unspoken 'so what?' was often: 'Whose geopolitical interests are served by this migration, and who bears responsibility for the instability?' REPETITIONS: Central America and the 'Push Factors' We Manufactured Fast forward to the 1980s. As conflicts inflamed by US proxy wars and interventions ravaged Central America, particularly El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, waves of