Who is making the call on who can have the American Dream?

I was in the Coast Guard and working on a ship in the 1980s where we were tasked with intercepting Haitians trying to reach U.S. shores in boats that were not very seaworthy and returning the Haitian families back to Haiti (Port of Prince).

Now this appeared to be in the best interest of the Haitians whose safety was at risk. Sending them back was not quite the humane thing to do, however. The Haitians going back home are not received with open arms. In speaking with local Americans living in Haiti; they told me that returning Haitian families would face prison and sometimes death. The U.S. knew this. We had on board a Drug Enforcement Agency agent briefing the crew before departing home port. We were instructed to never ask the Haitians if they would be at risk if we brought them home. The reason being that if a Haitian answered, "yes," we would have to grant political asylum in America. Not too proud of our country on this one.

Now Haitians are being flown back to Haiti from Texas after leaving Haiti over three years ago. God help them. Tough call!

Kevin McGowan

USCG Retired

East Lyme