Will tragedy in Haiti bring more refugees to the US?

That is a question I had today and I don’t know the answer.  Maybe.  And, maybe the first ones to come will be babies.  Here is a story from the Grand Forks Herald about a young woman who had been working with orphans in Haiti when the earthquake hit.  Her family in Minnesota was attempting to adopt some babies and Senator Amy Klobuchar says she will try to get refugee status for them, if paperwork is tangled.

As Port-au-Prince and its environs lay in ruins Wednesday, Lacey Hewitt continued to care for the orphans of Haiti.

The Lancaster, Minn., woman, 26, slept outside a damaged orphanage Tuesday night after the devastating earthquake that may have killed tens of thousands in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Hewitt volunteered in August to work at the Reach Out to Haiti shelter a few miles outside Port-au-Prince.

She called her mother, Kelli Hewitt, about 8 p.m. Tuesday to report that she was OK.

[….]

The Hewitt family has been working to adopt more children from Haiti, and the paperwork had almost been completed.

“We might have to start all over,” Kelli Hewitt said. “We were hoping to have them home by this summer.”

[….]

Jim Hewitt said he has contacted members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office told him they would “try to get refugee status for the babies.”

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