There are the kinds of heart-breaking cases which leave Americans, Haitians, indeed people of goodwill everywhere, shaking their heads in dismay.

Yet, the Obama Administration, in general, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in particular, are persisting with a gut-wrenching policy of deporting Haitians to a country in dire need of such basic social services as housing, good health care, acceptable sanitation, and drinking water.

In January, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an arm of DHS, sent 26 Haitians back to their birthplace and one of them was Wildrick Guerrier, a Haitian-born immigrant who had spent most of his life in the United States. Admittedly, he wasn't a Boy Scout. He was convicted in Miami of battery on a law enforcement officer and possessing a gun. Within weeks of his return to Haiti, he was dead and while the cause of death remains unknown, he had suffered cholera-like symptoms, vomiting, diarrhea and chest pains. It should be noted that cholera is a disease which was unknown in Haiti before the United Nations sent peace-keeping forces there and the man may have picked it up while in a Haitian prison. Had he been allowed to remain in the United States, as most Haitians and immigration advocates have maintained, he would probably be alive today.

Guerrier was among the first batch of Haitian immigrants removed from the United States since the deadly earthquake struck the Caribbean nation and left 230,000 people dead and at least one million homeless.

 Next is the story of Lyglenson Lemorin. Like Guerrier, he was in the initial group of deportees. Earlier this month, Lemorin, who had no criminal history and was found innocent of a terrorism charge in federal court about four years ago, requested permission to return to Florida to attend the funeral of his 15 year old killed by a passing vehicle. The father was denied permission.

 Why the rejection by Washington? Apparently, the Haitian who was charged but acquitted in a federal court of conspiring to blow up buildings, including the Sear's Tower in Chicago in 2006, is considered a national security risk.

 Clearly, the decision to resume deportations to Haiti is an act of insensitivity and lacks any semblance of humanity.

 As the whole world is aware, living conditions in Haiti are abysmal, a point made several months ago by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, which appealed to the Obama White House to suspend the deportations until the government in Port-au-Prince could guarantee adequate health care to people thrown into prison.

 In addition, Roman Catholic bishops have made a similar appeal on the grounds that deportations to Haiti, at this time, were inhumane.

 With another hurricane season approaching we can only hope and pray that another natural disaster doesn't strike a country which is already battling a cholera outbreak and hasn't been rebuilt after the 2010 earthquake.

 It's acknowledged that Haiti isn't in a position to absorb criminal deportees, a fact known to the Obama White House, which is quite familiar with the deplorable conditions in the country.

 In its own defense, the Department of Homeland Security states it must send back Haitians who are convicted felons because its hands are tied. It said that because federal courts have ruled that criminal aliens marked for deportation must be removed in 180 days after the final order for removal was first made, it must act otherwise they must be set free.

 The trouble with that statement is the some of the Haitians earmarked for removal are non-violent misdemeanor lawbreakers. On top of that, some have spouses and children and are the main breadwinners. Sending them back to their birthplace disrupts family life and undermines the care of children.

 These removals, as ICE calls them, can be stopped until conditions improve in Haiti. Actually, the non-violent acts many of them committed don't merit deportation. Considering how Cubans are treated when they flee their homeland in search of a better life and, therefore, aren't suffering in the same horrendous manner as the Haitians, the White House should bring some equity to the deportation picture by improving the treatment of Haitians.

 It may be too late to protect the deportees already sent back home, but it shouldn't be out of the question to prevent any further infliction of pain on Haitians. The Department of Homeland Security has the power to stop it. The moratorium on deportations shouldn't have been lifted in the first place, but now that it's clear how the policy is affecting people, the deportations should be stopped.