FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2021
Equity Forward Denounces the Actions of the Biden Administration Against Haitian Asylum Seekers
“On Tuesday, President Biden spoke before the United Nations General Assembly and stressed the United States’ commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—which established the right to seek and enjoy asylum. At the same time as Biden’s speech, horror was unfolding at the U.S. southern border against asylum seekers.
Immigrant rights advocates have long been sounding alarms regarding the growing humanitarian crisis, but yesterday, more people were awakened to the situation as the scenes of Custom and Border Patrol officials engaging in violence against mostly Haitian, Black asylum seekers emerged. This treatment was gruesome, inexcusable and a violation of international human rights law.
The United States knows that the current political, economic and health care situations in Haiti are putting people at grave risk and that the increase in human rights abuses are grounds for seeking asylum, which is why the Department of Homeland Security granted Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in the country earlier this year. It is of the utmost cruelty for our government to then engage in human rights abuses against additional Haitian asylum seekers, then deport them without access to the formal process to seek asylum and gain refugee status using Title 42.
We are in solidarity with those who seek safety and refuge in the United States and with organizations who are working on behalf of Haitians at the border.”
Equity Forward encourages support of the following organizations working with Haitian im/migrants:
Black Alliance for Just Immigration