Opinion Columnist Warns of Historical Parallels in US Moves to Expel Haitians

In a column published by the Daily Press, author and retired broadcaster Chris Dickon of Portsmouth argues that recent US efforts to remove Haitian immigrants echo historical patterns of exclusion. Dickon recounts a 1986 medical mission from Hampton Roads to Cap Haitien, in which regional doctors, surgeons, nurses and dentists treated Haitians who had emerged from the dictatorship of Francois Duvalier, many of them desperately ill during the AIDS era. He writes that a president is now expounding what he describes as racism against Haitian people and others of color, an effort he says is supported by figures in government and sanctioned by the US Supreme Court, targeting people in legal citizenship processes. Dickon links immigration measures to what he calls related threats to other vulnerable groups, citing an April announcement by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. of a proposed national autism registry that was later withdrawn, and a June Department of Justice memo attributed to Stephen Miller that, according to the column, appeared to authorize reinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. He also recalls the 1940 steamship Quanza, whose Jewish refugee passengers were eventually granted entry via Hampton Roads with help from Eleanor Roosevelt. The claims reflect the author's opinion and remain a single-source commentary piece.