By Dr. Bruce E. Twyman
When the United States released a list of countries targeted for a travel ban it included foreign nationals from places like Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Eritrea; mostly affecting Africa and the Middle East. But how did Haiti end up on this list? The statement released by Homeland Security cited safety concerns. Traveling to Haiti right now could be a concern due to current instability but accepting refugees fleeing the nation should have remained a priority.
The man charged in the Boulder, Colorado attack is from Egypt which is not on the restricted list, yet Haiti made the list. The suspect in Colorado attacked demonstrators rallying in support of Israeli hostages and has been formally charged with 118 criminal charges on the state level, including 28 counts of attempted murder as well as a federal hate crime. He is an Egyptian citizen who had overstayed a tourist visa living illegally in the United States.
A CATO Institute report released in 2021 cited native born Americans as having an incarceration rate 3.5 times higher than that of all Haitian immigrants. So why is the United States treating Haiti as a hostile terrorist nation? Toussaint L’Ouverture’s victory more than 200 years ago seems to still have an impact on how Haiti is viewed in modern times. It was the first independent black nation to free itself sending shockwaves throughout the world.
It resulted in reparations being paid to the slaveholders keeping the nation in perpetual debt with support from the newly formed United States of America. Instead of recognizing its past success as the most prosperous colony owned by France and becoming the first to disband slavery becoming an independent black nation, it was called a S-hole nation. In reality, Haitians arrived on U.S. soil as liberators helping in the Siege of Savannah as the new nation was forming.
Roughly 50,000 Haitians have been allowed to live in the U.S. under the Temporary Protection Status program in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. The Obama administration included Haiti in the program shortly after the incident that killed as many as 300,000 people, destroyed much of the capital and caused widespread damage. Since then, Haitians have been eligible to stay regardless of how they entered the United States — legally or illegally — as long as they were residing here before January 12, 2011. Protections for them have been revoked and the nation added to the list of banned travel destinations despite the fact that it has not had a history of aggression with the USA.
Contributions of Haitians to this nation have been impactful. Karine Jean-Pierre, the former White House Press Secretary was a groundbreaking figure in U.S. politics. Appointed in May 2022, she is the first Black and openly LGBTQ+ person to hold this role. Claudine Gay made history in 2023 as the first Black president of Harvard University. Born to Haitian immigrant parents, Gay is a political scientist whose research focused on democracy, political participation and race. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable known as the father of Chicago is believed to have parents of Haitian descent. A New Orleans genealogist discovered the first U.S.-born Pope has Black and Creole roots. The maternal grandparents of Pope Leo XIV, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié were listed on several census documents as Black or mulatto. Their 1887 marriage license names Martinez’s country of birth as Haiti with birth records showing his city of birth as Santo Domingo (then part of Haiti; now the capital of the Dominican Republic).
The list goes on and on of positive contributions, even in sports. Yvon Joseph, a Georgia Tech basketball center born in Haiti, was named to the 1985 All ACC Tournament. In the 2025 NBA Finals two Haitian descendants participated; Bennedict Mathurin for Indiana and Luguentz Dort for the NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder. At what point do we acknowledge the contributions of Haitians and change the narrative from dangerous to helpful? Would it require another national disaster? While it shouldn’t be expected in this governmental climate of anti-DEI, Americans need to do independent research and decide who is a real enemy and who actually contributes to making this nation greater.
About the Author:
Dr. Bruce E. Twyman is author of The Last Crusade and the Empire of Haiti, and has become an authoritative source on the Republic of Haiti. Dr. Twyman currently resides in Southern California, is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and a veteran of the U.S. Air National Guard. He holds a B.A. in Pan African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles and earned an M.A. in African American studies and Ph.D. in Political Science from Clark Atlanta University. He has served as Assistant Professor at Prairie View A&M University, taught at California State University, Los Angeles and California State University, Fullerton. He also authored The Black Seminole Legacy and North American Politics, 1693 to 1845.
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