Ladonida Whyte, right, holds a candle meant to represent Haitian migrants deported from the United States to Haiti, during a vigil Thursday, October 14, 2021, in San Diego. According to organizers, each candle held at the vigil Thursday represents 30 of the thousands of Haitians that have been deported in the last month. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
On Thursday, groups advocating for better treatment of Haitian asylum seekers published a full-page ad in the Washington, D.C. edition of the New York Times, calling on Pres. Joe Biden to end Title 42 and the continued expulsion of Haitian migrants.
The groups are part of the Welcome With Dignity campaign pushing for humane reforms to the asylum process.
A digital copy of the print ad that ran in today’s Washington version of the @nytimes. It includes the correct date: Biden’s administration has expelled more than 7,500 Haitian migrants back to danger in Haiti since September 19. #DefendBlackImmigrants #WelcomeWithDignity pic.twitter.com/5uPocbFsZ6
— #WelcomeWithDignity (@WelcomeWDignity) October 14, 2021
“Your administration has expelled more than 7,500 Haitian migrants back to danger in Haiti since September 19,” read the ad.
An earlier press release published by the Haitian Bridge Alliance called for nationwide demonstrations on Thursday, October 14, “to demand an end to President Biden’s inhumane mass expulsions of Haitian asylum seekers and mistreatment of Black migrants.”
Justice for Haiti! Community Organizer Ivie Bien-Aime stood with a coalition of advocates, elected officials & the #BrooklynBridge6, whose civil disobedience highlighted the mistreatment of Haitian migrants at the Texas border.
We demand due process for Haitian asylum seekers! pic.twitter.com/4gl0FaGFjK
— Office of the Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams (@nycpa) October 15, 2021
Protesters hearing from Patrick, a Haitian-American speaking over phone from ICE detention. #DefendBlackImmigrants pic.twitter.com/DBDYPEtbuC
— Arun Gupta (@arunindy) October 14, 2021
In its condemnation of the expulsions, the group pointed to the fact that the secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, in an announcement re-granting Haitians Temporary Protected Status, cited “serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty, and lack of basic resources” in Haiti in the wake of “the assassination of President Jovenel Moise [and] a 7.2 magnitude earthquake —which resulted in the death of over 2,200 people, injured another 12,000, damaged or destroyed 120,000 homes, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.”
Even after Tropical Storm Grace swept through the island nation, “the Biden Administration sent 72 flights to Haiti, including pregnant women, babies, and families to the same country that they determined was unsafe,” read the statement.
Today and always I standing in solidarity with Black Immigrants #DefendBlackImmigrants ?????? pic.twitter.com/vbSzAkaPMb
— Celia Melina Roche (@MelinaRoche) October 14, 2021
In NYC Foley Square, about 100 people in support of national day of action to #DefendBlackImmigrants pic.twitter.com/FdZaPX2p0r
— Arun Gupta (@arunindy) October 14, 2021
“The high level of anti-Blackness embedded in the immigration system was shown to the world when pictures of Customs and Border Patrol agents on horses and reins were chasing Black asylum seekers,” the statement continued. “This treatment is unlike any other that we have seen for any other groups of migrants seeking safety.”
Music belongs in the movement! #DefendBlackImmigrants
IG: Toomuchtalentband pic.twitter.com/Fl8LtfkwPS— #WelcomeWithDignity (@WelcomeWDignity) October 14, 2021
TODAY: Show up for Black migrants and immigrants in our community. Join an event near you: https://t.co/DiDbzNw9LN#DefendBlackImmigrants pic.twitter.com/zuJqB6Y333
— Families Belong Together (@fams2gether) October 14, 2021
The Biden administration has come under fire for its continued use of Title 42, which was implemented by former Pres. Donald Trump to deny entry to asylum seekers without hearings under the stated reason of taking health precautions due to the pandemic —though as Rafael Bernal at The Hill points out, many of those sent back to their countries are kept in U.S. custody well beyond the recommended two-week period for quarantine.
“Rescinding a Trump-era policy is the least I would expect,” said Taisha Saintil, legislative and communications director for the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which is also part of the Welcome With Dignity campaign. “Why do you think these lives don’t matter? That’s a question I would love to ask the president himself.”
