U.S. lawmakers were warned on Tuesday that Haiti is facing its most severe humanitarian collapse in decades — but in a hearing on Capitol Hill, a State Department official said that restoring security, not humanitarian aid, is Washington’s core priority on the island.
“One word: stability,” said Henry Wooster, the top U.S. diplomat in Haiti. “We define that as (A) no collapse of the state and (B) no mass illegal migration onto U.S. shores. Everything we do to implement the president’s Haiti policy is anchored to that singular objective.”
That strategy, officials pressed, should not only reshape Haiti’s security landscape, but alter how assistance is delivered. Rather than expanding traditional foreign aid programs, both Wooster and Austin Holmes, chief executive officer of the Caribbean Security Group, pushed lawmakers to invest in a security-first model with “humanitarian corridor” carve-outs. Public-private partnerships and faith-based organizations — such as Mission of Hope, which Holmes chairs — should take center stage, he asserted.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
