US launches mass expulsion of Haitian migrants from Texas

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JUAN A. LOZANO, ERIC GAY, ELLIOT SPAGAT and EVENS SANON

DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a Texas border town back to their homeland and blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico in a massive show of force that signals the beginning of what could be one of America’s swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants or refugees in decades.

More than 320 migrants arrived in Port-au-Prince on three flights Sunday, and Haiti said six flights were expected Tuesday. In all, U.S. authorities moved to expel many of the more 12,000 migrants camped around a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.

The U.S. plans to begin seven expulsion flights daily on Wednesday, four to Port-au-Prince and three to Cap-Haitien, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Flights will continue to depart from San Antonio but authorities may add El Paso, the official said.

The only obvious parallel for such an expulsion without an opportunity to seek asylum was in 1992 when the Coast Guard intercepted Haitian refugees at sea, said Yael Schacher, senior U.S. advocate at Refugees International whose doctoral studies focused on the history of U.S. asylum law.



U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. Thousands of Haitian migrants have been arriving to Del Rio, Texas, as authorities attempt to close the border to stop the flow of migrants. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/health-mexico-texas-caribbean-immigration-56f1f0093039e2a43e128b7ef0015485

[TomWilm]

1. A remarkable silent topic ...

- 54 Democratic lawmakers urged Biden to halt deportations to Haiti.

- UN: Thousands still await urgent humanitarian help after Haiti earthquake.

- Haiti migration officials asks the US for a “humanitarian moratorium”.

[Devil Child]

2. Appropriate response by the Biden admin

[ForgoTheConsequence]

3. Easy to say from the comfort of your laptop.

May you never find yourself in a desperate situation where your fellow brother/sister turns their back.

[Devil Child]

4. Comfort of a smart phone

Thanks for the well wishes.

Keep the flights moving.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

5. Only if they fly you out and fly more Haitians in.

Enjoy your phone in Haiti.

[Devil Child]

8. If I were an undocumented migrant who just crossed a national border illegally

Feel free to send me back from where I originated, as that should happen to all who do so.

Thank you Biden.

[Orrex]

13. Wow

Not sure you're in the correct forum.

[Devil Child]

14. I'm right where I need to be

Open borders is not a policy I will ever support.

Which seems to put me in alignment with Biden's administration.

Again, thank you Joe Biden for enforcing our nation's immigration laws.

[Orrex]

16. As a non-zealot, I'm under no obligation to agree with everything that anyone says

To wit, I can support the Biden administration without supporting an inhumane policy, even as I understand him to be constrained by inhumane laws.

If you're inclined to reply with some subject line that begins "So," let me state up front that I recognize these as the strawman paraphrases that they are, and I see no need to respond to them.

[Devil Child]

17. So,

Where you see inhumane policy I see sane and needed policy.

Biden is acting in a sane and necessary way. Open-borders is insanity.

[Orrex]

18. See? And that was the predicted inaccurate paraphrase.

Thanks for proving my point so handily.

[Devil Child]

19. Anytime n/t

[EX500rider]

27. 20% of the world's people live on dollar a day.

I don't think we have room for all of them.

[totodeinhere]

30. I think we have got to get away from the mindset that the USA is responsible for solving the

problems of the world. The fact is that we do not have the wherewithal or the resources to take on the responsibility of caring for everyone in the world who needs help and wants to come here. We should provide foreign aid to Haiti and provide other assistance, but we are not set up at the border to handle that hoard of migrants trying to crash our border.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

6. Biden Continues Trump's Policy in Haiti Despite Bipartisan Congressional Pushback

Former president Donald Trump, whose administration provided steadfast support to the current Haitian president, notoriously referred to the nation as a “shithole” after a campaign stop in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. During his own campaign, Biden stated that “The Trump Administration is abandoning the Haitian people while the country’s political crisis is paralyzing that nation.” Yet, under the Biden administration, there has been no sign of significant change in policy toward Haiti. Though the Biden administration did grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian migrants this spring, in its first few months in office, the new administration deported more Haitians than the Trump administration did in the entirely of fiscal year 2020. Unfortunately, this has all occurred largely outside the spotlight of the international media.

For all the rhetoric on race and reckoning with how the US’s racist past connects with institutional racism in the present, US policy continues to stifle democracy and economic advancement in the only country founded after a successful slave revolt. Will the Biden administration finally change course in Haiti, or will it continue Trump’s racist foreign policy off the coast of Florida?

https://cepr.net/biden-continues-trumps-policy-in-haiti-despite-bipartisan-congressional-pushback/

[Jose Garcia]

23. Six members of the House isn't much of a 'pushback'

I am tired of hearing from members of Congress whining about what the administration is doing or not doing. How about do your job and pass a law to set administrative policy?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

26. Federal administrative law derives from the Executive branch.

Here's a refresher just in case you skipped high school civics.

https://libguides.law.gsu.edu/c.php?g=253374&p=1689765

[totodeinhere]

31. Yes but we desperately need Congress to pass immigration reform.

It can't all be accomplished at the executive level.

[Steelrolled]

33. Congress could pass laws to take control of what is happening

but no-one wants to touch it (and I can't blame them, politics is all about getting re-elected).

[honest.abe]

7. Tragic but there does not appear to be any other good option.

Biden will be criticized not matter what he does here.

[FloridaBlues]

9. I have to agree no win for Biden either way. A reminder we don't have open borders.

HHS Secretary had a great interview with Jim Acosta yesterday. Explaining our policies.

[honest.abe]

12. Yeah I agree with what Biden is doing.

Half of world would be here if we had completely open borders.

[oldsoftie]

10. And people have been told for MONTHS "Do not come!"

The message has been put out there even in S America.
Its time they listen. We cannot take in unlimited numbers of people

[Elessar Zappa]

20. We actually need more immigrants.

The construction industry is short 400,000 people and that deficit will increase if and when infrastructure passes. I’m not saying people should come illegally but we need to up the amount of legal immigrants we take in.

[oldsoftie]

21. Thats fine with me. Immigration is what sets us apart from the rest of the world

It keeps our economy growing. Yes, we need to increase the number of legal immigrants. But we cannot let people randomly come in, unvaccinated, en masse like what we're seeing now.
And if we raised the number allowed to come in legally, it MIGHT decrease the number coming illegally.
And also start STRICTLY enforcing the law against businesses who continue to hire illegally

[Ritabert]

11. We have 100,000+ Afghanis to resettle

....not to mention Central Americans who have been waiting in Mexico for months if not years for a hearing. Better to send more aid to Haiti.

[Martin68]

22. Sending Haitians back to a Haiti that is telling from a second devastating earthquake and

a very unstable political situation is criminal.

[totodeinhere]

32. No, sending them back is not violating any immigration laws.

The executive traditionally has wide discretion in this area. I think one can make a good case that sending them back is immoral, but not criminal. Nobody in the administration will be indicted for this.

[Martin68]

36. Criminal as in "a crime against humanity." I believe a good case could be made for that.

I was not referring to the US legal system. I was speaking about morality.

[totodeinhere]

37. OK, thanks for the clarification. n/t

[Polybius]

24. Good for Biden for now bowing to pressure

We can't take them in at this time.

[Dopers_Greed]

25. We can't take in an unlimited amount of undocumented refugees

There's a reason why there's a process for it, and why there's a set number we can take.

Is the US supposed to re-settle every single person around the world who's in poverty?

This is only going to get worse over time as more countries start to collapse from climate change and extremism.

[speaktruthtopower]

28. I agree with you..

and it eventually lowers wages for the working class.

[sarisataka]

29. I need a doctor

To treat the whiplash from the sudden reversal of DU on immigration.

[Steelrolled]

34. This is how politics works,

so I'm not surprised in general. But I am surprised at how close it is to a 100% change in position.

[sarisataka]

35. Many of these posts sound like

the Democratic party of 1871 rather than 2021