Commentary: Why Haiti matters

There’s a war monument in Savannah, Georgia, that Americans should take notice of. It pays tribute to over 500 men of African descent from Saint-Domingue, the future country of Haiti, who in 1779 fought alongside American colonists, storming British fortifications in Georgia. The Siege of Savannah is not the best-known battle of our Revolutionary War, but Haiti’s bloodshed on behalf of American freedom has always been a point of national pride in that country.

We should contemplate the long and complex relationship between our two nations as the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates on a lower court decision blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to end the Temporary Protected Status for Haitians granted after the 2010 earthquake. It was slated for termination in 2017, but litigation and later actions of the Joe Biden administration complicate the timeline.

Haitian soldiers seasoned on American battlefields during the revolution later sparked Haiti’s overthrow of French colonial rule, depriving France of its most profitable slave colony and ending one of the most brutal enslavement of human beings in modern world history. While our Founding Fathers revolted against taxation without representation, Haiti revolted against oppressors who routinely worked Haitian enslaved people to death in the sugar fields.

It’s worth noting that the U.S. “repaid” Haiti as U.S. policy shifted and at times indirectly supported France diplomatically or economically in their efforts to extract from their former colony - the “Pearl of the Antilles” - financial reparations to compensate former slave owners for their lost property and to cover France’s war expenses. The 1825 indemnity was 150 million francs or 10 times annual revenues and was later reduced.

Haiti held out for almost two decades before agreeing to reparations but had to borrow money from the French and Americans at interest rates that ensured over the next 120 years, over 80% of the island’s income would go to finance the debt. During those decades, there was little investment in infrastructure, schools and sanitation. Haiti ceased making payments in 1947.

It took the U.S. 58 years to recognize Haiti as a legitimate country; President Abraham Lincoln was championing emancipation at home and abroad when he recognized Haiti in 1862. In the Cold War, the U.S. for almost 30 years supported the oppressive anti-communist regime of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier and later his son Jean-Claude, or “Baby Doc,” whose rule was characterized by corruption that drained the nation’s coffers and human rights violations that left some 30,000 dead or missing.

Haiti suffers more natural disasters than most Caribbean nations as it lies on a geological fault line in a region prone to severe storms. A number of factors magnify the impact of disasters: substandard infrastructure and housing, large coastal populations and widespread dependence on subsistence farming.

A massive earthquake near the capital in 2010 killed hundreds of thousands of Haitians and displaced over 1.5 million more. At $8 billion, basic reconstruction costs surpassed the country’s total economic output. Between 2015 and 2017, drought led to crop losses of 70%, and in 2016, Hurricane Matthew decimated the country’s housing, livestock and infrastructure.

Dengue and malaria run rampant, and cholera, introduced by United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal after the 2010 earthquake, has killed 10,000 and infected nearly 1 million more. At the same time, nongovernmental organizations have poorly administered billions of dollars. What happened in Haiti captures, at the very least, the incompetence of international relief organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The $4.4 billion in foreign aid failed to meet its intended objectives. At least $1.5 billion was disbursed for immediate humanitarian aid, while another $3 billion went to so-called recovery, reconstruction and development. Of the $2.13 billion in contracts and grants for Haiti-related work, less than $50 million, or 2%, went to Haitian organizations or firms.

It remains unclear how the billions have been spent and whether U.S. tax dollars have had a sustainable impact. USAID and its vendors generally failed to make such data public as they were not required to publish reports of budget and financial breakdowns along with their project outcomes. All the major international aid agencies including the Red Cross have been tainted by the aid scandal. The Department of Government Efficiency was right to scrutinize USAID and on target with its conclusions.

The Haitian experience is the best case study of the failures of the American foreign aid program’s lack of transparency and accountability. Governmental agencies such as USAID and their NGO partners and collaborators act as if they are sovereign nations, or the “new colonialists,” as I prefer to call them.

Despite all of this, Haiti is and has never been anything but a friend and ally of the United States. It’s not on the terror watch list, and, while a transit point, it is not a major drug source.

Haitian immigrants - the Temporary Protected Status is in question for some - take jobs that are often difficult to fill. They have risen to positions of prominence in most industries. They very often outperform national averages for migrants in labor force participation and naturalization rates. They hold critical positions across most economic sectors, achieve high levels of educational and professional prominence, and have strong political representation.

Remittances from the Haitian diaspora serve as a crucial economic lifeline for Haiti’s 11 million residents. Estimates showing the diaspora sends annually between $4.5 billion and $6.1 billion. These funds currently account for almost one-fifth of Haiti’s gross domestic product and are primarily used to prevent starvation, support daily necessities, and fund education and healthcare for relatives back home.

As we contemplate next steps in Haiti, we must consider our long and exploitive history with Haiti and acknowledge that the failures of the American and international aid efforts there may be as much a product of our own incompetency and the corruption that exists in the NGO community as is the fault of Haitians themselves.

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Paul Vallas is an adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. He ran for Chicago mayor in 2023 and was previously budget director for the city and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

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This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 3:21 AM.