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Horrifying  of U.S. Border Patrol agents on horseback chasing Haitian asylum seekers in the waters of the Rio Grande captured the world鈥檚 attention in late September. The clash took place near a border area in Texas between the United States and Mexico where thousands of Haitian migrants and their families had taken refuge under a bridge, having arrived there after transiting through multiple countries. When some of the migrants began crossing the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas, border agents violently discouraged them, using their long horse reins as whips and invoking historical  to slave patrols. 

鈥淎ll of us are appalled by the images showing the mistreatment of Haitian refugees at the southern border and the continuation of a callous deportation policy,鈥� D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, who is a Haitian immigrant, . He cited the 鈥渟erious challenges鈥� facing Haiti today as a reason why people are fleeing, including 鈥渄evastating earthquakes and hurricanes, political upheaval and dangerous gangs and violent crime.鈥�

After the border photos came to light President Joe Biden  the violence saying, 鈥渋t was horrible,鈥� and adding, 鈥淚 promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences.鈥� 

from on .

Still, the Biden administration, using a Trump-era policy鈥斺�攚ent on to  of Haitians before they had an opportunity to present their cases for asylum. 

According to Karen Musalo, an asylum law expert, 鈥淏oth international and U.S. law recognize the basic human right to seek asylum.鈥� In an article in The Conversation, , 鈥淚t is entirely legal to approach U.S. borders and request asylum.鈥� Yet Haitians are being denied this right under the Trump rule. 

Title 42 is an emergency public health rule crafted during the pandemic, not an immigration policy. This is something that even Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admits, but has nonetheless justified. , 鈥淲e are doing this out of a public health need. It is not an immigration policy. It is not an immigration policy that we would embrace.鈥� 

The U.S. has long had discriminatory immigration policies toward Haitians going back to the 1980s when  at the same time that Haitians were intercepted at sea and sent back. Similar policies continued through the 1990s when the Republican administration of George H. W. Bush and the Democratic administration of Bill Clinton , years before that very site became infamous for imprisoning suspects linked to the 9/11 attacks. 

The Biden administration, despite its promises to the contrary, has used enforcement of Title 42 to continue the  anti-immigrant policies, and specifically the U.S.鈥檚 historic anti-Haitian trend. 

鈥淧resident Biden has hidden behind the excuse of using the pandemic to deport people without giving them their due process,鈥� says Janvieve Williams Comrie, executive director of . Williams Comrie referred to the  that Biden made on the day he was inaugurated as President to 鈥減ursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color,鈥� and points out that, 鈥渢his is not the way to do it.鈥� 

The  concurred. On September 22, BAJI released a statement aimed at Biden that reads, 鈥淵our commitment to racial equity must extend to the treatment of immigrants.鈥� The group also released a  for the federal government that included asking for Title 42 to be revoked and for Haitians to be granted humanitarian parole while their asylum claims are processed. 

So controversial is the use of Title 42 against Haitians that at least two high level U.S. government officials have resigned in protest. Daniel Foote, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti said in his  that he did not want to be, 鈥渁ssociated with the United States inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees.鈥� More recently Harold Koh, a senior State Department official also  saying in an internal memo that the government鈥檚 policy was 鈥渋nhumane,鈥� and 鈥渘ot worthy of this Administration that I so strongly support.鈥�

Yet the Biden administration claims its hands are tied, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚  that Title 42 is necessary in order to prevent the risk of increased transmission of COVID-19 into the U.S. via asylum seekers. The administration went as far as legally  the Trump-era rule and won a favorable ruling in a federal appeals court to continue applying it. 

Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union, who challenged the rule in court , 鈥淚f the Biden administration really wants to treat asylum-seekers humanely, it should end this lawless policy now and withdraw its appeal.鈥� 

Williams Comrie says the Biden administration could treat Haitian asylum seekers the same way others are treated. For example,  fleeing the newly resurgent Taliban regime, are not being subjected to the same strict COVID-19 related public-health standards that Haitians are. There are about  newly settled Afghans in the United States right now and the Biden administration is planning to resettle 95,000 more next year. 

The thousands of Haitians gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border near Texas face dangers just as serious as Afghans. Many traveled through various Latin American countries before arriving at the border and facing violence and expulsion at the hands of Border Patrol agents. 鈥淭he Haitian migrants that we see today have not been migrating from just Haiti,鈥� says Williams Comrie. 鈥淭his is a migration that is coming from as far down as Brazil and Chile and not just from 2021 but from as early as 2010.鈥� 

Many families have children who were born in the Latin American countries they were transiting through before arriving at the border of the U.S. and Williams Comrie explains that they now face a very 鈥渉ostile鈥� environment in those nations as well. 

Aside from groups like AfroResistance, , and , few immigrant rights groups explicitly advocate for the rights of Haitians. Williams Comrie, dismayed at this, asks, 鈥淲hy is this not an issue?鈥� She maintains that, 鈥淗aiti is such an important country and Haitians are such a large part of the migrating community that more organizations should be advocating for them.鈥� 

In the absence of humane federal policies for Haitians, some individuals have organized  to assist the asylum seekers at the Texas border, bringing truck-loads of supplies. , a nonprofit organizing food aid for disaster victims, has supplied hot meals to thousands of people. But such efforts are piecemeal and not nearly enough to address the need. 

The plight of Haitians seeking asylum is ultimately a racial justice issue, according to Williams Comrie, who asks, 鈥淲hy are some human beings more deserving of rights than other human beings?鈥�

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