The Haitian Border Crisis Through God's Eyes

Sept. 28, 2021

Dear friends,

The beautiful island nation of Haiti represents a wonderful array of lives and stories that weave through our own Andrews University community family. Over the last 20 years within our own student body, we have always had at least one student from Haiti attending our University each school year.

However, that island nation of Haiti is also a place that has been too often touched by tragedy.

Just over a decade ago, a massive 2010 earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of Haitians. Just this September, another massive earthquake killed thousands.

In between those two tragic bookends, the country—the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere—has been touched by persistent poverty, corruption, illiteracy, displacement and limited access to food and water for its citizens. Additionally, this July the president of the country was assassinated.

However, in spite of these recent tragedies, Haiti has also always been a symbol of remarkable strength, as it became the first independent Black republic in the world when they managed to overthrow the Napoleon-led French at the Battle of Vertiéres in 1803.

Due to that loss of the country of Haiti, which was the world’s richest colony at the time, Napoleon, desperate for money to fund future conquests, sold 530,000,000 acres of land to America. Those acres of land make up what we know today as the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana. If not for the Haitian Revolution, students and employees who call those states home might conceivably have been French citizens today.

This legacy of fighting for freedom has ingrained the Haitian people with a resilient spirit which has empowered them to endure a host of tragedies and setbacks. Haitians are a people who take pride in their heritage and who demand and deserve to be treated and seen with dignity regardless of their socioeconomic status or condition.

So for the students who join us from Haiti, and for the more than 11 million who live today on that beautiful island, our prayers continue and our hearts break as we seek to comprehend the impact of that overwhelming reality.

Especially in the wake of these seemingly endless tragedies and threats, Haitians understandably share a common human yearning for a better place, a better home for themselves and their families. For many, that means the United States. Over the last two decades, immigration from Haiti to the United States has tripled. And after the political tragedies and natural disasters of this year, even more immigrants have left the country to try to make their way to the United States through Mexico.

That journey by the Haitian community to find a new and better home somewhere else has dramatically been on our hearts over this last week. If you have been following the news, you’ve perhaps seen some of the disturbing photos that showed border patrol agents on horseback as they pursued and attempted to drive away some of the 15,000 Haitians who had crossed the Rio Grande and gathered under bridges near Del Rio, Texas, as they attempted to enter the United States.

The horror of seeing men on horses try and round up human beings brings back terrible memories of some of the worst things that America has done throughout its history. In turn, those actions have justifiably inspired widespread outrage.

Daniel Foote, the United States’ top envoy to Haiti, resigned last Thursday over the “inhumane” and “counterproductive” deportations of Haitian migrants. President Biden has condemned those actions as “outrageous. I promise you those (border agents) will … be investigated. There will be consequences.” Since those photos emerged, those horseback patrols at the border have been suspended, and the Department of Homeland Security has promised a full investigation.

Two thousand of the Haitians who gathered at the border have been returned by plane to Haiti since then, and thousands more have been allowed to remain in the United States as they apply for asylum.

As we seek to understand this latest tragedy, and as our nation again seeks to craft and enforce a humane approach to immigration amidst disappointments, I am reminded of some words I shared more than three years ago in this Divino blog when I wrote about the separation of children from their families at the U.S. Border in 2018.

In that post, I shared this essential passage from the book of Deuteronomy that is relevant in this current situation—and always—for each one of us as children of God, committed to the values of His Kingdom:

“For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:17–19

As I reflected then, there are several examples in Scripture of God commanding us to treat those who are not native to our land in the exact same manner that we would treat a family member. We are always called, I believe, to treat each other, including the “strangers within our gates,” with dignity, respect and compassion—an approach informed by God’s own care and love for each one of us.

In fact, I continue to be convinced that God calls His people to take an active part in not only welcoming in the foreigner or stranger that is within our gates but also to make provision for them—treating them as if they are members of our own families.

As I reflected earlier, “our ancestors were brought to this country by way of divergent and varying paths. Some migrated to America and forcibly claimed these lands, which were not native to them, as their own. Others were brought to these shores by force, and the foundations of this country were built on the backs of their free labor. Still others sought the dream of a better life in this country fleeing war-torn and impoverished communities in their countries of origin.”

We are reminded of these stories not only by troubling stories in the news but also by the history and stories that we reflect on during this Hispanic Heritage Month, which we’re now celebrating on our campus. This is an incredible opportunity as God’s children to truly understand the stories that mark the heritage of our Latinx brothers and sisters (which includes Haitians), including a generations-long struggle to find a safe and secure home for each member of their family and community.

Whatever boundaries we face—those on a map, those in a government policy, even boundaries within our own hearts—must be informed by humane treatment and the dignity that each child of God deserves. We need to find a place where these biblical principles can be reinforced by our own actions, and the actions of this country, especially as it embraces and claims the values of Christian fidelity and purpose.

Certainly, there are complicated and challenging failures on all sides in this story and all the stories that have preceded them. Within this Divino blog, we’ve now reflected on several tragedies that surround these issues across the years and even different administrations in the United States.

They are all hard reminders of how broken this world is and how essential are the answers found in God’s ultimate call to offer dignity, purpose and true love for each individual—even, and perhaps especially, for those who are not part of our country or our communities.

Karl A. Racine, the District of Columbia Attorney General, who is a Haitian American, wrote last week that “individuals seeking asylum or other humanitarian assistance in our country deserve our respect and compassion, and they should not be treated differently from other migrants based on their country of origin. Haitians deserve the same due process as all others attempting to immigrate or flee to the United States.”

Attorney General Racine makes a powerful and God-inspired point as the United States, as God’s children and as a global community continue to seek and pray for God’s power and purpose in addressing this current crisis and understanding and effectively addressing the realities for all who seek a better home.

Michael Nixon
Vice President for University Culture & Inclusion