Haitian Pulse - Politics

From Port-au-Prince to Bamako, Washington’s so-called “security policies” reveal a single truth: Black sovereignty is treated as a threat, and dignity is met with punishment.

Politics | The Haitian Pulse Editorial Team | September 2025

Keywords

Haiti, Trump administration, travel ban, Sahel, AES, immigration policy, Black sovereignty, neocolonialism, U.S. foreign policy, Haitian diaspora

When the United States announced new travel restrictions targeting citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—core members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—many African observers recognized the move for what it truly was: not a security measure, but a political sanction. Wrapped in the familiar language of “national security,” the decision once again exposed the West’s double standard on freedom, mobility, and sovereignty.

For Haitians, this was not a distant African story. It was déjà vu.

Haiti has lived this policy. Haiti has survived this punishment. Haiti was one of its earliest victims.

“When Black nations assert sovereignty, the response is never partnership — it is discipline.”

The United States claims these travel bans exist to protect its borders. Yet history shows a different pattern: countries targeted are almost always Black, poor, strategically inconvenient, or politically defiant. The Sahel today stands where Haiti has stood for decades — treated not as a partner in the international system, but as a problem to be isolated, managed, and contained.

Under the Trump administration, this logic was no longer subtle. It became blunt, aggressive, and unapologetic.

Haiti: The Prototype of Collective Punishment

Long before Burkina Faso, Mali, or Niger appeared on Washington’s blacklist, Haiti was already there in spirit.

Haitians were not banned with a single executive order headline, but through a slow, deliberate tightening of policy: the weaponization of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), mass asylum denials, accelerated deportations, and the constant portrayal of Haitians as a “burden” or a “risk.”

“Haiti was never treated as a humanitarian emergency — it was treated as a liability.”

Trump did not hide his disdain. His language toward Haiti and other Black nations stripped away the diplomatic varnish and revealed the ideology beneath: some peoples are welcome in the world order, others are to be kept out.

When Haiti collapsed under gang violence, political paralysis, and economic strangulation — much of it worsened by foreign interference — Washington’s answer was not protection, but exclusion.

The Fiction of ‘National Security’

Just as with the Sahel today, U.S. officials justified their actions toward Haiti using the same recycled talking points:

• insufficient information sharing

• weak institutions

• security risks

• migration management

But none of these arguments withstand scrutiny.

“Security is not built by walls. It is destroyed by humiliation.”

Did deporting Haitians into a collapsing country make the United States safer?
Did restricting student visas stabilize Haiti?
Did collective punishment weaken gangs — or strengthen them by stripping families of remittances and hope?

The answer is obvious.

What these policies actually protect is not security, but geopolitical hierarchy.

The Sahel and Haiti: Different Maps, Same Treatment

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger did not become targets because of terrorism alone. They became targets because they rejected subservience. They questioned Western military footprints, refused imposed economic models, and asserted control over their own political paths.

Haiti has been punished for the same crime since 1804.

“The West forgives instability. It does not forgive independence.”

When Sahelian nations form the AES to coordinate defense and sovereignty, they are sanctioned. When Haiti resists foreign trusteeship, it is labeled a “failed state.” When Black nations attempt horizontal partnerships, they are accused of endangering global order.

This is not coincidence. It is policy.

Trump’s America: Removing the Mask

What distinguishes the Trump era is not invention, but honesty. Trump did not create anti-Black immigration policy — he exposed it.

Under his administration:

• Travel bans expanded disproportionately toward non-white nations

• Immigration became an instrument of punishment

• Human rights were subordinated to domestic political theater

“Under Trump, immigration policy stopped pretending to be humanitarian. It became openly punitive, openly racialized, and openly political.”

Haiti felt this immediately. TPS deadlines became bargaining chips. Haitian families lived in permanent uncertainty. Deportation flights continued even as Haiti burned.

The message was unmistakable: Black suffering does not suspend policy. It justifies it.

Mobility as a Weapon

What the travel bans against the Sahel and the restrictions against Haitians truly represent is the weaponization of mobility.

Freedom of movement — a cornerstone of modern global citizenship — is selectively applied. Europeans move freely. Capital crosses borders instantly. But Black bodies are inspected, delayed, banned, and punished.

“In today’s world, mobility is a privilege — and Black nations are reminded daily that it is not theirs.”

For Haitians, this has meant:

• students locked out of opportunity

• professionals trapped between borders

• families fractured by policy

For the Sahel, it means diplomatic humiliation disguised as security.

The Neocolonial Reflex

The travel bans are not isolated decisions. They are reflexes — a neocolonial instinct to discipline those who step outside approved roles.

Africa is expected to remain a zone of extraction. Haiti is expected to remain dependent. When either deviates, punishment follows.

“This is not about terrorism. It is about control.”

Instead of investing in institutional cooperation, fair trade, or respectful diplomacy, the United States chooses isolation. Instead of addressing the roots of instability — many of which trace back to Western intervention — it chooses exclusion.

This strategy has failed everywhere it has been tried.

Haiti’s Warning to the Sahel — and the World

If there is one lesson Haiti offers the Sahel, it is this: exclusion does not end with one policy.

Today it is visas. Tomorrow it is sanctions. Then comes diplomatic marginalization, economic strangulation, and narrative warfare.

Haiti has endured this cycle for over two centuries.

“The punishment of Haiti was never meant to end. It was meant to serve as an example.”

Yet Haiti also offers another lesson: resistance endures. Dignity survives. And people eventually see through the lies.

A World at a Crossroads

The world is changing. Africa is reorganizing. The Caribbean is awakening. The Global South is questioning old hierarchies.

The response from Washington, under Trump and beyond, has been fear disguised as policy.

But walls do not stop history.

“A policy that bans peoples does not create peace. It creates memory — and memory fuels resistance.”

At The Haitian Pulse, we take a clear position: the travel bans against the Sahel and the treatment of Haiti are expressions of the same failed worldview. One that punishes Black sovereignty, criminalizes mobility, and mistakes control for stability. Haitians know this story because we have lived it. The answer is not silence, and it is not submission. It is unity, clarity, and leadership rooted in dignity. The world does not need more walls — it needs honesty. Leave your comment below and let us know how you see Haiti’s role in this global reckoning.