Overflowing on the Mexican border near Del Rio, Texas, thousands of Haitian refugees underscore the crisis at the border, blamed last year on 75-year-old President Donald Trump, all because it was an Election Year. All the Democrat-friendly media blamed Trump the border crisis and treatment of primarily Latin American refugees seeking asylum in the United States, all because of failed states in Mexico, Central and South America, lacking enough industry and jobs to sustain their populations. President Joe Biden, 78 and his 56-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris blamed the immigration crisis on Trump, when it’s far worse now than a year ago. Now Haitian refuges, seeking taking boats to South and Central America have joined the parade of immigrants fleeing failed states to seek the Promised Land in the United States, leaving border officials overwhelmed in a quandary.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security [DHS] relocated thousands of Haitians for deportation via an airlift back to Haitai. Instead of processing Haitian refugees as asylum-seekers, U.S. officials plan to invoke a national health emergency rule that allows them to deport massive numbers of Haitians because they present a public health risk. If the Biden administration has any real humanitarian principles, they’d process Haitians as true refugees. Flooding Del Rio Texas, 145 miles west of San Antonio, Haitians were taken to a remote part of the border. Instead of flying out Haitians seeking refuge in the U.S., the Biden administration should process them like any other fugitive from a failed state. “We are all looking for a better life,” said 32-year-old Junior John who lived in Chile for the last four years. Biden’s policy of funding failed states in Central and South America isn’t enough.
After suffering a devastating earthquake Jan. 12 and assassination of President Jovenal Moise, refugees have been flooding out of the country. Haiti’s government has been in crisis, driving refugees off the impoverished island. Sending refugees back to their homeland defies every principle of U.S. immigration law. “In Haiti, there is not security,” said 38-eyar-old Fabricio Jean who fled the country with his wife and two daughters. Haitians have been migrating to the U.S. for several years, finding life in South and Central America, not much better than Haiti. Whatever problems exist in the U.S., they pale in comparison to failed states in Central and South America. U.S. Customs and Border Protection [ICE] sealed the U.S. border at Del Rio, recognizing that some 14, 534 Haitian refugees posed a danger to U.S. residents. Pitching tents near the border solves none of the refugee problems.
ICE has begun to send Haitians by buses and vans to other ICE facilities in El Paso, Laredo and Rio Grande Valley. Rio Grande ICE chief Robert Garcia asked the Biden administration for back up to process the backlog of Haitians. Haitians have tried to claim asylum, knowing they’re fleeing from dangerous conditions with the Haitian government having no resources to protect their well-being. Homeland Security officials said they would invoke a pandemic authority to immediately airlift Haitians from their Del Rio encampment. How much Covid-19 infects the over 14,000 refugees is anyone’s guess. DHS officials said that the U.S. border is not open, warning refuges, “our borders are not open, and people should not make the dangerous journey,” sending mixed signals of what to do with legitimate asylum seekers, legally eligible for relocation ins the United States.
ICE officials must seek the green light from 62-year-old Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayokas, who guaranteed on his swearing in ceremony Feb. 21 that he would not make the same mistakes as the Trump administration. But judging by DHS’s decision to airlift thousands of asylum seekers back to Haiti, Mayorkas has a real problem implementing current U.S. immigration law. It’s currently illegal to deny legitimate asylum applications when presented at the U.S. border. “It really is a humanitarian crisis,” said Nicole Phillips, legal director of Bride Alliance, urging the DHS to implement appropriate immigration law to process asylum applications of Haitian refugees. Very few of the Haitian refugees wish to seek immigration status in Mexico or other Central and South American countries. Refugees know that the best hope is relocating to the United States.
White House officials look completely out-of-sorts what to do with over 14,000 Haitian refuges, all seeking asylum in the United States. While there’s some controversy over seasonal migrant workers, there’s no controversy when it comes the Haitian situation. With rampant corruption, widespread poverty and an unstable government after a recent assassination, it’s no wonder that Haitians have escaped the oppressive conditions making like intolerable in impoverished Caribbean nation. Mayorkas must not kick the can down the road when it comes to the Haitian crisis. ICE officials must hire enough workers to process however many Haitians wish to relocate in the U.S.. As it stands now, plans to deport thousands of Haitians on the grounds they don’t fit Covid-19 protocols is a feeble excuse to deny asylum. As long a asylum laws exist, they must be enforced and applied fairly.
