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The Shut Down Adelanto Coalition denounces Biden’s violent and segregationist approach to Haitian migrants seeking safety in the U.S. 

For Immediate Release //

September 27, 2021

Contact: Tamara Marquez, tamara@ic4ij.org, (562) 212-2664

The Shut Down Adelanto Coalition denounces Biden’s violent and segregationist approach to Haitian migrants seeking safety in the U.S

Nationwide – In a recent DHS memo, the Biden administration outlines their “strategy” to address increased migration at the border primarily of Black migrants. Let’s be clear- Haitian migrants (like most migrants) do not leave their homes because they want to. They are forced to flee their homes due to issues such as climate change and political turmoil. They embark on long treacherous journeys, risking their lives with the hope for a better life. Yet, the Biden administration, once again, has chosen to ignore international law and disregard the humanity of black lives by ordering deportations of hundreds of Haitians while at one point there were  10,000 migrants, mostly Haitian, surveilled under a bridge in Texas.

 

The images of Border Patrol agents on horseback using makeshift whips against Black migrants and violently attempting to prevent them from crossing into the U.S. Black immigrants are a stark reminder of the legacy of slavery, racism, and anti-blackness in this country. The U.S. Government should do everything in its power to protect the lives of all migrants by seeking support from organizations and communities that have welcomed immigrants for decades. No more deportations, and no more cages!

 

There is no more explicit proof of anti-Black racism in immigration than what has been done to Haitian migrants at Del Rio. We have seen this before and through the mistreatment of Black Asylum seekers at the border and in detention centers. Cameroonian migrants seeking asylum who were being deported and other instances of mistreatment towards black asylum seekers seem to be never-ending. This again is seen through the ongoing deportations and expulsions, detention of families, cruel and inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants seeking nothing more than to survive the horrors from which they’ve been forced to flee. Our demands of the U.S. government are not new. We call on the Biden administration to immediately halt deportation flights through a humanitarian moratorium and release Haitians from immigration detention. We must put an end to the misuse of public health code Title 42 and stop all expulsions so that we can restore access to asylum.

We stand in solidarity with all Black immigrants, especially our Haitian brothers and sisters who heroically defeated colonialism and slavery over 200 years ago, yet today have been systematically targeted, for their audacity to fight for freedom and seek a better life. We echo the demands outlined by Haitian Bridge Alliance, a Shut Down Adelanto Coalition member, and will not sit idly by.

The Biden Administration MUST:

  • Immediately Grant Humanitarian Parole to Black Asylum-Seekers at the U.S./Mexico Border
  • Immediately Stop Expelling and Deporting Haitian and Other Black Asylum-Seekers
  • Immediately Revoke Title 42 (federal courts that have found Title 42 unconstitutional)
  • Immediately End the Metering System Used to Process Asylum-Seekers at the U.S./Mexico Border
  • Honor Non-Refoulement, international human rights law that forbids a country from Expelling Asylum Seekers. 

The Shut Down Adelanto Coalition which consists of Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights LA, Inland Empire Youth Collective, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice, Freedom for Immigrants, Detention Watch Network, EarthJustice, Nikkei Progressives, Haitian Bridge Alliance

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