Post Detail
CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE END OF ALL DEPORTATIONS AND ABUSES OF HAITIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS AT THE BORDER
CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE END OF ALL DEPORTATIONS AND ABUSES OF HAITIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS AT THE BORDER
In the last few weeks, the United States government has engaged in the largest mass expulsion of asylum seekers in recent history even as Haitians are facing intersecting crises of the presidential assassination and an economy-shattering earthquake in the midst of a global pandemic. The cynicism and anti-Blackness of the U.S. government carrying out mass deportations of Haitian migrants, in line with their long history of destabilization of Haiti’s political and economic situation, reflects a pattern of white supremacist colonial powers disrupting and exploiting countries in the global South and then refusing to provide refuge or reparation for the victims of that same exploitation. Due to predatory U.S. border policies, such as Title 42 and the metering process that was introduced during the Obama administration, Haitian migrants are drowning to death, being physically and sexually abused, and being denied aid at the border.
Due to Title 42, all deportations happening under this mass, forced exodus are happening in a chaotic, rushed, and violent manner where asylum seekers aren’t seeing so much as a judge or a courtroom prior to being forced out of the United States. Not only that, there is no longer a “determination of safety” happening prior to deportations--meaning that asylum seekers are being deported without the knowledge that they’re being deported, with no way to contact family, and no shelter or aid when they land. These policies are deeply harmful and immoral, and in the case of Title 42, in violation of international law and the recommendations of health officials.
There is a dominant narrative being spread around the United States that there is a “crisis at the border,” but the reality is that the enforcement of the border itself is creating this crisis. People seeking asylum from conditions the United States are responsible for creating are being forced to languish at the Mexican border for weeks, months, and even years due to “metering” by the U.S. government that requires migrants to wait to even be considered for entry. Black asylum seekers in particular, experience the brunt of the effects of this metering process, with many of them facing police violence, robberies, murders, drownings, and rapes as a result.
For many folks living in the United States, the only evidence of this that we’ve seen have been pictures and videos on our social media feeds of Black Haitian refugees being brutalized and assaulted by white Border Patrol agents on horses as they attempt to access refuge in the United States. These videos, which have been shared by public figures, celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and many other people with social and political power, usually are not associated with any call to action or any major impact outside of just acting as trauma porn where folks can revel at imagery of black people being abused and taking no further action on it. We are calling for our people to share resources or take other forms of action to end deportation instead of just sharing videos and pictures of Haitian asylum seekers being abused at the border.
In response to this crisis, many Haitians have been taking direct action such as commandeering transport busses being used for deportation in an effort to resist this unjust violence at the border. We see this as revolutionary and necessary direct actions of resistance against Border Patrol agents and white supremacy. We demand the freeing of all Haitian revolutionaries and political prisoners risking their bodies to fight for their liberation.
We demand that the Biden administration immediately stop deporting all migrants and eliminate restrictions on Black migrants, provide life sustaining protection and legal aid to those making this journey, revoke the racist policies of Title 42 and metering/asylum turnbacks, and defund ICE, DHS, and Border Patrol. We call upon our people to participate in revolutionary action against the Border Patrol and ICE by following the lead of those most impacted and donating to their causes so they may continue this work.
Places to donate in solidarity:
Black Immigrant Bail Fund: https://www.blackimmigrantsbailfund.com/
M4BL Haiti Solidarity List:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w6INzfKCQ6nSunZHZSEMfVz2DOBqmlpLKjR4M-4s2lM/
Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees:
Haitian Emergency Relief Fund: http://www.haitiemergencyrelief.org/support-our-work/
Houston Haitians United:
http://www.houstonhaitiansunited.org/
World Central Kitchen:
