This is not right, regardless of the situation: Administration to allow Haitians in U.S. illegally to stay for 18 months

From The Washington Post:

The Obama administration will allow 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians living in the United States illegally to stay for 18 months because of Tuesday's earthquake but warned that Haitians who are newly caught trying to enter the country will be deported.

The U.S. government extends temporary protected status to nationals from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan under a law that is intended to provide relief to countries torn by war, natural disaster or political upheaval.

Haitian American groups and immigration advocates have been asking for the ruling for years, citing four storms that wreaked havoc in the country in 2008 and a recurring food crisis.

"Victory at last," said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which requested the change after Obama took office last year. While saying she was thrilled, Little added, "It's troubling indeed that it takes a disaster of this proportion to get our government to do the right thing for the Haitians."

Some advocates for stricter immigration controls called the move justified, but others expressed reservations, noting that the status has been continually renewed for other groups long after the disaster that triggered it. Tens of thousands of Salvadorans, for example, have remained in the United States under the temporary immigration status granted to them in the wake of a 2001 earthquake.