Last year while accepting the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Joe Biden vowed to roll back core Trump istration immigration policies that many immigration and asylum advocates say are cruel and inhumane.
“If I’m elected president, we’re going to immediately end Trump’s assault on the dignity of immigrant communities,” Biden said in his virtual acceptance speech. “We’re going to restore our moral standing in the world and our historic role as a safe haven for refugees and asylum-seekers.”
Unfortunately we’re a long, long way away from embracing that role and restoring that moral standing. On immigration Biden seems far more interested in talking a big game than delivering one since assuming office nine months ago.
Those shortcomings were thrust into national focus recently with the plight of Haitian migrants.
The Biden istration has used a Trump-era policy, couched as a public health concern, to reportedly expel more than 2,000 Haitian migrants who fled a country reeling from natural disasters and political upheaval and illegally crossed into Texas as they attempted to make their plea for asylum. The Trump-era policy, and Biden’s application of it, had long been criticized by immigration advocates, but that criticism went viral with photos showing Border Patrol agents on horseback pursuing Haitian migrants while carrying what some initially thought were whips.
Officials contended those were just long horse reigns. An El Paso Times reporter on the scene said at least one agent swung the reigns at migrants like a whip though. There were videos ing that claim, as well as videos showing Border Patrol agents yelling insults such as, “This is why your country’s shit!”
What’s happened to Haitian migrants is cruel and reprehensible but it’s not an outlier for U.S. immigration and asylum policy — historically or currently under the Biden istration.
Hollie Webb, lead attorney with Al Otro Lado’s Border Rights Project, primarily works with asylum seekers in Tijuana. She said U.S. immigration and asylum policies have changed little from Trump to Biden beyond the rhetoric.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m surprised, but I’m definitely disappointed,” Webb said. “Immigration is always an issue that is highly politicized in the U.S. and when that happens the human rights of the people that we’re talking about are always taken out of the conversation.”
For example, the Biden istration has continued to enforce Title 42, a portion of the public health code that the Trump istration interpreted in a way that gave immigration officials authority to rapidly expel migrants at the border without allowing them to apply for asylum.
Biden’s istration has gone to court to retain Title 42 in its full capacity. U.S. officials have continued to assert a public health need for the policy, despite thousands and thousands of U.S. citizens and permanent residents crossing the border daily without any kind of protective health measures from the Department of Homeland Security and CBP officers, who often work without masks.
Webb said Title 42 also is being istered in a completely random manner. When people cross between ports of entry, the attorney said, some are expelled back to Mexico, others are expelled to their home country, and a small few are processed. Although Mexico’s willingness to accept people is a factor in expulsion, it’s still a matter of chance, and it’s causing a great deal of confusion.
These decisions endanger an already vulnerable population and place them in a horrible situation, as does the continuation of the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy. Webb noted that many of the Mexican border cities where many migrants are forced to wait and build camps are incredibly dangerous, leaving migrants more vulnerable to organized crime and other crimes, like kidnapping. She also noted that many migrants are unable to receive healthcare while being forced to wait in Mexico.
“When the U.S. plays these policy games with the Mexican government in of MPP (Migrant Protection Protocols), the border closure, and everything else, the migrants are the ones who are hurt in the end,” Webb said. “They’re in a precarious position and they have nowhere to go … and they have a legal right to seek asylum in the U.S.”
Over the past few days the Biden istration has also ramped up deportation flights to six flights per day for Haitian asylum seekers, thus denying them their legal right to seek asylum. This is despite the fact DHS officials internally have acknowledged that Haitian migrants “may face harm” upon their return to the country due to its state of violence and political instability following the assassination of its president.
Beyond Biden’s inconsistency when it comes to immigration, it’s also quite striking how inconsistent the public outcry has been. Not counting immigration advocates, pushback against Biden’s policies hasn’t been on the same level as it was with Trump.
“With Trump the rhetoric was so terrible and it was so obvious what they were doing that people were obviously very outraged,” Webb said. “Now that there is somebody who is not like that, someone who says all the right things in office, people aren’t scrutinizing what is actually happening as much.”
Now that the photos and videos of the mistreatment of Haitian migrants are out there, I hope the outrage expands to include how the istration treats other immigrants. I also hope the photos and videos remind us all — myself included — that we have some work to do to make sure these issues remain front and center.
Because our government is closing the door on people at a time when other governments across the globe are also narrowing the ways people can get visas and legal status. But desperation is growing.
“People seem to have this perception that a lot of migrants just come because they want a better job or whatever, but most people I talk to never ever wanted to leave their home; they were devastated,” Webb said. “Nobody wants to leave the place they feel safe, where they have family, and where their culture is. People leave because they have no other choice.”
