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These exiles 30 / Haitians in New York City wanted to go back home as soon as possible and spent most of their time in the United States organizing for the overthrow of the regime. They considered New York City to be just a transit place to consolidate their forces and prepare for the overthrow of President François Duvalier. S. society, the exiled leaders focused primarily on homeland issues and discouraged immigrants from addressing local concerns. As a result, the community always had leaders who were divided between supporting activities that focused primarily on homeland politics and activities that prioritized local concerns.

In addition to these activist groups, there were exile organizations in the community that did not join them because they considered them too radical. Both the conservative and the leftist organizations promoted an anti-Duvalier campaign in the New York immigrant community. Their leaders thought that they would be here only for a short period of time and that Duvalier would be soon overthrown. At that level, both groups wanted Duvalier to leave the country. However, leaders of the conservative sector believed that the American government would help them overthrow the Duvalier regime, while the left argued that only a revolution in Haiti could overthrow the government.

Although the policy of the United States is to portray Haitian immigrants as economic refugees, the reality is far different. Haitian immigrants for the most part have come from the most educated sectors of the Haitian population, and many of them were pushed out of the country because of political turmoil. S. foreign policy toward Haiti. The first wave of Haitian immigration to the United States took place in the early 1960s, and it was composed of political exiles who were forced to flee Haiti by the Duvalier government.