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President Biden has come under increased scrutiny from members of his own party over his administration’s treatment of Haitian migrants along the US-Mexico border.
In letters to administration officials, White House meetings and a press conference outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers urged the administration to halt deportation flights to Haiti and called for accounts for the alleged mistreatment of Haitian migrants by US border patrol agents.
“The Biden administration must immediately and indefinitely stop the evictions,” Representative Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass, said Wednesday at a press conference outside the Capitol.
Pressley, who is co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, joined several other House Democrats in holding to account for what she called “the blatant cruel, inhuman and racist treatment of our Haitian brothers and sisters at the border. South. “
“We have a moral obligation to lead with compassion,” Pressley said. “Haitian lives are black lives and if we truly believe black lives matter, we need to turn the tide. “
The press conference comes as Democrats grow concerned about the Biden administration’s efforts to remove thousands of migrants, mostly Haitians, from a makeshift encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande River in Del Rio, Texas. In recent days, hundreds of migrants have been deported to the island nation which is in crisis after the assassination of its president in July and a devastating earthquake weeks later that left thousands dead and many many other homeless people.
In addition to the mass deportations, which the Department of Homeland Security plans to increase in the coming days, photos and videos emerged over the weekend that appeared to show border patrol officers on horseback chasing Haitian migrants. near the Del Rio encampment in an attempt to push them back to Mexico.
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the footage “horrific” and on Monday DHS announced it was investigating the agents’ actions in the footage.
“DHS does not tolerate abuse of migrants in our custody and we take these allegations very seriously,” the agency said in a message posted on Twitter.
In a Wednesday meeting at the White House, members of the Congressional Black Caucus reiterated their concerns about the images as well as the general treatment of Haitian migrants, while Democrats from the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to Troy Miller, the Acting Commissioner of the United States. Customs and border protection, requesting a briefing on the Del Rio incident by the end of the week. The Oversight Committee is also seeking information on ongoing deportations of Haitian migrants which, according to the letter, “raise serious concerns about whether the federal government is not treating migrants – including those fleeing violence, political instability and natural disasters – with respect and dignity and giving them a real opportunity to seek asylum.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, DN.Y., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, expressed similar concerns in a letter. separate address to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro. Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In their letter, also sent on Wednesday, Thompson and Meeks called for “documented assessments that inform the administration’s determination that Haiti is equipped to receive and resettle deportees.” Members of Congress also reiterated calls for the administration to “suspend repatriations to Haiti until the country recovers from these devastating crises.”
At a press briefing on Wednesday, Psaki said the investigation into the actions of border patrol agents would be completed by next week and said that “in the meantime these people have been placed on leave administrative and will not interact with any migrant “.
“We are not going to tolerate this kind of inhumane treatment,” she added.
Psaki went on to say that President Biden “remains committed to putting in place an orderly and humane immigration system,” and defended the administration’s continued use of an emergency authority during a pandemic known as the name Title 42 to deport most migrants, including Haitians, on the grounds that they pose a threat to public health.
“We continue to deport people from various countries,” she said, insisting that “our policies, our border restrictions, do not apply only to Haitians”.
The recent Title 42 deportations of Haitians have renewed calls from Democratic lawmakers as well as many human and civil rights activists to the Biden administration to repeal the policy, which was first implemented under the former President Donald Trump, and has been used to deny migrants who may have a legitimate fear of returning to their country of origin the right to seek asylum at the border.
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