To: Detroit/Seattle
Workers' Voice mailing list
September 30, 2021
Re: Biden vs Haitians, and Greyhound’s history of facilitating illegal arrests
By Pete Brown, Detroit Workers’ Voice
Some 18,000 people pleading for asylum assembled under the international bridge at the U.S./Mexico border in Del Rio, Texas in late September. Most of these were refugees from Haiti. Some were recent escapees from the chaos in Haiti caused by recent storms, an earthquake, the president’s assassination, economic stagnation and massive street crime. Many had emigrated from Haiti years before, following the earthquake of 2010, and had been living in various Latin American countries. Since then they had traveled to Mexico and eventually ended up at the border crossing in Del Rio requesting asylum in the United States. But the Biden administration’s treatment of the refugees was just as brutal as their treatment of refugees from Guatemala, Honduras and other Latin American countries. Biden insists on maintaining Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which means refugees are forced to live in squalid makeshift camps while their applications for asylum grind their way through immigration hearings. They aren’t allowed to work, legally, in Mexico while they wait unless they somehow obtain a work permit. Their refugee camps are so dangerous – beset by criminals that rob, rape, kidnap and murder -- that some American aid workers are afraid to visit them.
Biden’s immigration officers tried to reduce the crowd in Del Rio by
speeding up asylum hearings and then began deporting hundreds of
Haitians. Seven hundred were deported back to Haiti on one day, with
hundreds more scheduled to leave on ensuing days. At that point some
Haitians tried to make a break for it, to wade across the Rio Grande
and take a chance at avoiding Border Patrol on the other side. But they
were met by mounted Border Patrol officers, who ran at them with horses
and whipped them with horses’ reins. (1)
The video of this activity so enraged the public, especially Black
leaders, that eventually VP Kamala Harris and even President Biden
himself condemned the actions of the officers and promised
“consequences” for them.
After this embarrassing incident the Secretary of the Department of
Homeland Security (which includes Immigration, Customs and Border
Patrol), Alejandro Mayorkas, flew to Del Rio. Without saying so,
Mayorkas temporarily suspended the “Remain in Mexico” policy for
thousands of Haitian immigrants, who were admitted into the United
States while their requests for asylum are processed. But at the same
time many were deported to Haiti. Many of these people had not been in
Haiti for a decade, were unlikely to obtain employment, and would
likely be left to fend for themselves on the streets and subjected to
violent crime. The United States special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote,
resigned in protest, saying he could not stomach the Biden
administration’s inhumane policy of deporting people to Haiti at a time
when American diplomats are themselves confined to embassy grounds in
Port-au-Prince because of the extremely unsafe conditions there. The
Biden administration admits that Haiti is too dangerous to live in and
then deports people to live there. (2)
Fearful of deportation, thousands of the Haitians at the border in Del Rio fled back into Mexico and headed south. In this way the massive encampment under the bridge was cleared out in a number of days. This wasn’t accomplished by any great humanitarian turn on the part of the Biden administration. On the contrary: Secretary Mayorkas insisted on defending the deportations and also defended “Remain in Mexico” by citing Title 42 of the regulations governing the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). This is a regulation used by the Trump administration to defend its inhuman anti-immigrant policy. When pressed to defend his orders to stop admitting asylum-seekers, Trump enacted Title 42, a little-used regulation that gives the CDC the right to declare a health emergency and to restrict immigration on that basis. When defending the Biden administration’s use of Title 42, Mayorkas did not of course mention Trump; but he was in fact following in Trump’s footprints. And he was happily shifting blame for this inhuman policy to the CDC director, Rochelle Walensky.
So there it stands for now. With a mass encampment, thousands of Haitian refugees were able to temporarily force open the gates of the American fortress and win admission, at least on a temporary basis. How many of them will win permanent admission to the United States remains to be seen. A total of 4,600 were deported to Haiti (3) and some 8,000 fled the border, at least temporarily returning to sites in Mexico. Many of those will no doubt return to the border at other sites and be forced to undergo further privations and inhuman treatment as they attempt to find gainful employment and a secure livelihood. Secretary Mayorkas and the Biden administration come out of this border crisis with tons of humanitarian rhetoric but in fact enforcing Trump’s anti-human policies. In TV interviews Mayorkas stressed the need for Congress to enact new immigration policies, as if the administration itself is powerless to act. But Congressional inaction did not stop Trump from imposing Title 42 and enforcing inhumane policies; why does it stop Biden from dropping Title 42 and reversing Trumpist policy? Mayorkas defends the use of Title 42 by noting the world is living through a pandemic and says this policy somehow keeps immigrants safe from the coronavirus; but how does deporting people to Haiti, a country without covid vaccinations, keep them safe? Or how does keeping them detained by Mexico in squalid refugee camps without vaccinations keep them healthy? If Biden and Mayorkas cared about the health of Haitian refugees, they would admit them to the U.S. at least on a temporary basis, and if necessary keep them quarantined and provided vaccinations. Despite the rhetoric, the administration’s actions stink.
Another interesting aspect of immigration policy occurred this same week, as a Washington state lawsuit against the Greyhound bus company was settled. Greyhound did not admit to any wrongdoing but agreed to pay $2.2 million in damages to the victims of illegal arrest by the Border Patrol and announce that it would no longer aid and abet warrantless searches and seizures of passengers on its buses. (4) The company failed to warn customers of the sweeps, misrepresented its role in allowing the sweeps and subjected its passengers to discrimination based on skin color or national origin. Passengers who looked Mexican were questioned, hauled off the buses, detained, and many of them deported. For years, Greyhound refused to acknowledge its policy of cooperation with Border Patrol, and then, when it did finally acknowledge its cooperation, insisted that it was legally required to cooperate. Finally, after fighting the lawsuit for years, Greyhound acknowledged that in fact it was not legally required to cooperate unless Border Patrol presents them with a legal warrant. This case shows that Border Patrol has been acting illegally for years as far north as Spokane, Washington, hounding, arresting and deporting anyone who looks Hispanic, and has acted with the cooperation of corporate leaders.
These two recent incidents give a preview of what we can expect from
our capitalist government as the world climate crisis deepens, and
millions of climate refugees get on the move throughout the world. As
famine and drought spread, more and more people are going to be forced
to move from their homelands and seek livelihoods elsewhere. But the
U.S. government has shown it will not hesitate to act inhumanely, even
illegally, as it refuses to provide asylum for refugees. Working people
need to take up the defense of their class brothers and sisters to
ensure better living conditions for all.
(1) Moustafa Bayoumi, “Men on horses chasing Black asylum seekers? Sadly, America has seen it before”, September 23, 2021, The Guardian.
(2) Julian Borger, “US envoy to Haiti resigns over ‘inhumane’ decision to deport migrants”, September 23, 2021, The Guardian.
(3) Priscilla Alvarez, “About 4,600 Haitians have been expelled from the US since September 19, DHS says”, September 29, 2021,CNN.
(4) Nicholas K. Geranios, “Greyhound Lines settles lawsuit over immigration sweeps”, September 27, 2021, Detroit News. <>
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