Trump Administration Bars Haitians From U.S. Visas For Low-Skilled Work (Reuters)

Humanitarian groups and Republican and Democratic members of Congress lobbied the Obama administration to make Haiti eligible for the short-term worker visas, arguing that remittances to family in Haiti would help the country recover from the earthquake. Without H-2A and H-2B visas, there are few legal avenues for most Haitians to go to the United States.

 

"The post-earthquake reconstruction efforts ignored migration and remittances entirely," said Michael Clemens, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development who was heavily involved in the efforts to allow Haitian workers to come to the United States. "We saw it as an opportunity to help Haiti rebuild after the earthquake."

 

The Obama administration added Haiti to the list of approved countries in 2012, and PTP Consulting stepped in to screen and match Haitian workers with farmers in the United States.

 

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