Dear John,
The lives of Black migrants are in danger.
In less than 4 months of presidency, the Biden Administration has expelled well over 1,300 Haitian migrants - including children, infants, and pregnant women - to Haiti during a severely violent political crisis.1 The people in Haiti are suffering under an oppressive government, a crisis so extreme that President Biden has even acknowledged that Haitians “may face harm” if they return home.2 And yet, most Haitians apprehended at the border have been locked in Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) detention centers in dangerous conditions, denied the right to attorneys, and summarily sent back to Haiti without the opportunity to apply for asylum protection.
Trump once referred to Haiti and several places in Africa as sh*thole countries.3 And then to further his xenophobic and racist anti-immigrant agenda, he used an obscure law called Title 42 to create an invisible wall that closed the U.S. border to migrants seeking asylum during the pandemic and expelled Black migrants back to the countries they fled.
The Center for Disease Control and other health experts argued that denying access to asylum protection for desperate migrants would have little effect on stopping the spread of the pandemic, but the Trump administration still pushed this agenda against immigrants, particularly Black communities.4
Biden has a chance to end the use of this policy, but is yet to act.
John, Black people worked hard to get Trump out and Biden in - a president who while running for office publicly campaigned in support of the Haitian community.5 This is why we need your help.
All of this is happening amid a political and economic crisis in Haiti caused by years of U.S.- backed dictatorship. And the situation has only become more dire for Black migrants since COVID-19. According to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services(RAICES), more than 44 percent of all families caged in ICE detention last summer were Haitian. On any given day in the past year, Haitians were the single largest nationality group in family detention, which we know are hubs for the spread of COVID-19.
Every arm of our country’s incarceration and deportation machine bears down on and disrupts Black people and communities. For decades, Black immigrants have faced disproportionate rates of detention and deportation. According to a report from The Black Alliance for Just Immigration, while Black immigrants make up less than 5.4 percent of the undocumented population in the United States, they made up 10.6 percent of all deportation proceedings from 2003 to 2015.
With your support we can push Biden to end the Trump-era harm against Black migrants.
As this country’s immigration practices increasingly mirror our mechanisms for domestic policing, we are saying Black lives matter irrespective of origin. The targeting and prioritization of Black migrants for deportation is immoral and wrong
This is why Color Of Change is joining Haitian Bridge Alliance(HBA) and other organizations to demand that Biden end Title 42 today.
Sign our petition demanding the Biden Administration protect Black migrant lives today.
Until justice is real,
Scott, Erika, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Ariel, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Madison, Trevor, Ana, McKayla and the Color Of Change team
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
References:
1. Haiti deportations soar as Biden administration deploys Trump-era health order. (2021, March 25). The Guardian. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/298754?t=8&akid=50606%2E4731121%2EEsaefv
2. Haiti deportations soar as Biden administration deploys Trump-era health order. (2021, March 25). The Guardian. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/298754?t=10&akid=50606%2E4731121%2EEsaefv
3. Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries. (2018, January 11). NBC News. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/14341?t=12&akid=50606%2E4731121%2EEsaefv
4. Haitian Bridge Alliance, UndocuBlack, Quixote Center. (2021). The Invisible Wall: Title 42 and its Impact on Haitian Migrants.
5. Biden accused Trump of ignoring Haiti. As turmoil deepens, will he change U.S. policy? (2021, February 14). Miami Herald. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/298756?t=14&akid=50606%2E4731121%2EEsaefv
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