While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.

Jean Denis Saint-Félix, S.J.: “Nobody wants to stay in this hell. People are seeking ways to enter, no matter how, the United States,” even “knowing the danger and risks they go through.”

Sugar is not the only industry that exploits Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic, but it offers a unique lens through which to understand racism and xenophobia.

People who hope to escape Haiti’s cholera outbreak and life-threatening insecurity cannot wait for a more welcome climate to emerge in the United States.

“Haitian people are living in what may be easily compared to hell,” Jean Denis Saint Félix, S.J., says. “No electricity, no running water, no transportation because there is no fuel. Unhealthy conditions everywhere.”

A coalition of 20 religious orders has sent an open letter to the U.N. requesting direct intervention against violent gangs in Haiti.