More leftist insanity from the Washington Post.
By Michael A. Clemens (contact him here)
Troops. Food. Medicine. Money. Solidarity.
So far, the American response to the tragedy in Haiti has been exactly what you’d expect, and in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that ravaged the nation on Jan. 12, such rapid assistance is precisely what is needed. But over the long term, there is another step, one that may be less obvious or popular, that we must take. It would vastly improve the living standards of the Haitian people, and if we had taken it earlier, it could have lessened the death toll of the quake.
We must let more Haitians come here. In fact, it’s time to consider an entire new class of immigration — call it a “golden door” visa, to be issued in limited numbers to people from the poorest countries, such as Haiti.
It could be permanent or temporary, but that’s less important than its core purpose. Our immigration law has traditionally had three primary goals: reuniting families, supplying employers and protecting refugees. But part of America’s greatness is that in letting people come, the nation has pursued a fourth, unwritten goal: extending opportunity to those born in places without it. A golden door visa would simply recognize in law what the United States has done since its founding.