The long history of troubled ties between Haiti and the US (BBC)

[struggle4progress]

... Many Haitians fled to the US during the political repression under Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

At first, the US government welcomed the refugees, but as the numbers swelled and boatloads of Haitians arrived on the South Florida coast in the 1970s and 1980s, this attitude changed to a policy of intercepting boats at sea and returning those on board to Haiti.

After decades dominated by dictatorships and coups, democracy was restored in 1990 when Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected in a popular vote.

The ousting of President Aristide by a military regime in 1991 led to a new wave of Haitians headed for the US ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8460185.stm