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U.S. Immigration and Customs (Ice) deported at least 72 people to Haiti on Monday, including a two-month-old baby and 21 other children, in an apparent blatant violation of the Biden administration’s orders to return only suspected terrorists and potentially dangerous convicts. criminals.
The children were deported to Haiti Monday on two charter flights by Ice from Laredo, Texas, to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The removals have returned vulnerable infants to Haiti amid major political turmoil.
Ice faces a growing chorus of denunciation as a “rogue agency” for its apparent refusal to comply with the new guidelines set by Biden and his Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. The new administration has ordered a 100-day moratorium on all evictions, which has been temporarily blocked by a judge in Texas.
However, the judge’s restraining order left in place new guidelines stating that only the most serious immigration cases should be deported.
Last Friday, the administration appeared to gain the upper hand in its attempt to contain Ice when deportation flights to Haiti were suspended. But Monday, the immigration agency has again asserted itself with the renewal of flights to Port-au-Prince, children and infants on board.
Human rights activists are dismayed by the evictions, which closely resemble the hard line drawn by Donald Trump. “It is unacceptable for us as a country to continue with the same draconian and cruel policies pursued by the Trump administration,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Bridge Alliance’s immigration support group. Haitian.
She added: “I don’t know what’s going on between Ice and the Biden administration, but we know what needs to be done: the evictions need to stop.”
Immigration advisers are particularly concerned about the safety of Haitian children deported on Monday, as they are being returned to a country beset by rapidly escalating political turmoil. Haitian President Jovenel Moïse refuses to respond to calls from the opposition to resign in a dispute over the end of his term – his critics say he should have left office on February 7.
Moses has been in power by decree for over a year and recently cracked down on public protests. On Sunday, when opponents urged him to step down, he announced the arrest of 23 people, including a Supreme Court judge and a senior police inspector who he said were plotting a coup against him .
Two Haitian journalists were reportedly shot dead by the armed forces on Monday in unstable scenes at the Champ de Mars, in downtown Port-au-Prince.
The Biden administration fueled the controversy by backing Moses in the dispute. The US government has announced that it believes the Haitian president still has a year to go before he has to step down.
Jozef said he was not sure to return the children to this environment. “I fear the children will be sent in the midst of this uprising. It’s like there’s a house on fire, and instead of taking people away for their own safety, the United States is sending helpless babies into the house on fire.
Ice is pursuing deportations under the controversial use of Title 42, a health law introduced in 1944 that was rarely used until recently. The Trump administration has supercharged its app on the pretext that it was needed as a health protection against the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump continued to take an aggressive approach to Haitian deportations until the last hours of his presidency. The day before he left the White House, a final deportation flight was sent to Haiti with a man who was not a Haitian citizen and who had never been to that country.
Biden took office the next day, pledging to follow a more humane path. So far, however, Ice seems to frustrate that intention.
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