Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

An Internal Document Shows DHS Officials Advised Against Haitian Deportations, Fearing They Could Violate Human Rights Obligations
Hamed Aleaziz
14 Dec 2021
An Internal Document Shows DHS Officials Advised Against Haitian Deportations, Fearing They Could Violate Human Rights Obligations
Photo: Felix Marquez AP

A Department of Homeland Security internal document acknowledges that deportations of Haitian asylum seekers are in violation of US law.

This article was originally published in Buzzfeed News.

The Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights office raised an internal warning to immigration and border officials that deporting Haitians to their volatile home country risked violating US civil and human rights obligations and advised them against the practice in late August, according to an internal document obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The existence of a late summer internal warning about removals to Haiti from DHS’ Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), including discussions of violating international standards, sheds new light on how some within the department had deep concerns about the safety of Haitians who could be sent back.

President Biden’s decision in September to begin a mass deportation campaign caused alarm among not only immigrant advocates, but also prominent Democratic politicians and highlighted how the White House was turning to restrictive policies in times of political crisis.

The CRCL office believed that if removals of Haitians, which had been on pause at the time of the warning in late August, resumed “any time in the near future,” it would put the DHS at risk of violating its human rights obligations. The office believed the pause in deportations back to Haiti was necessary due to the violence, political instability, and recent earthquake that led to severe damage and hundreds of deaths. Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were told that DHS had already laid out how it was unsafe to return Haitians when the Biden administration granted them Temporary Protected Status (TPS) earlier this year.

“These conditions create a risk of danger to deportees due to perceived political opinion and/or individual demographic characteristics (e.g., a high risk of refoulement),” the civil rights office communicated to ICE and CBP officials on Aug. 31, according to the internal document obtained by BuzzFeed News. The memo also pointed to a recent Department of State travel advisory listing Haiti at the highest level of danger due to the likelihood of life-threatening risks.

Specifically, the CRCL office was concerned that restarting removals to Haiti would risk “refoulement,” a term for sending an asylum-seeker back to a country where they will likely face persecution, in violation of human rights and international refugee law. In the aftermath of the Biden administration’s decision to remove thousands of Haitians, United Nations officials publicly raised the possibility that the deportations had possibly led to refoulement.

“The situation for Haitians who have been deported back to Haiti is extremely dire,” said Nicole Phillips, an adjunct professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and legal director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. “Everybody faces danger right now, but those who’ve been deported face an extra layer of danger.”

Phillips said many of those who were deported back to Haiti had not lived in the country for years, or owed money to people who helped them leave. As a result, she said deportees were at an increased risk of extortion and kidnapping from gangs.

A DHS spokesperson said that following the earthquake in August, deportations of Haitians were suspended, but that after the embassy in Haiti determined that conditions had improved, they were restarted.

“DHS worked very closely with the government of Haiti and the State Department to ensure that returns were done safely, including the dedication of resources in Haiti for the humane receipt of individuals,” the spokesperson said.

Throughout September, the Biden administration relied on the Title 42 policy, which cites the pandemic to give border agents the ability to quickly turn back asylum-seekers, as a means to remove Haitians from a camp in Del Rio, Texas.

In September and October alone, DHS officials used Title 42 to expel thousands of Haitians back to Haiti. The agency also sent back more than 250 Haitians through the more traditional “removal” process during that time, according to agency statistics.

Since the invocation of Title 42, DHS officials have referred to the act of returning someone to their home country under the policy as an “expulsion” separate from the typical “deportation” or “removal” process. The document obtained by BuzzFeed News refers to “removals” and “deportees” but focuses its warning on the act of returning people to potential danger in Haiti.

The advocacy group Witness at the Border reported this week that more than 9,000 Haitians have been returned to the country since the Biden administration began the mass deportations in September.

To justify the use of removing so many Haitians months after granting them TPS due to the instability in their home country, Biden administration officials have said that the conditions on the ground would allow for returns.

In an interview on CNN in September, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged the decision to grant TPS earlier this year before explaining the new dynamics.

“We then continued to study the conditions in Haiti, as is our responsibility. And we made a determination, based upon the facts, that, in fact, individuals could be safely returned to Haiti,” he said on Sept. 26, several weeks after the message from the DHS civil rights officials made its way to ICE and CBP.

The situation on the ground in Haiti has only devolved in recent months following a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people, as well as the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse this summer. In its travel warning, the State Department notes that kidnapping is widespread and sophisticated. Elsewhere, violent crime, including armed robbery, is common and protests and demonstrations, which sometimes turn violent, are frequent.

“Do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and COVID-19,” the travel advisory states. Earlier in October, a group of 17 missionaries from the US and Canada were kidnapped for ransom. In recent months, kidnappings have shot up and instability has only grown, especially as a fuel shortage exacerbated Haiti’s deepening crisis.

In the days after the initial wave of mass deportations of Haitians began under the Biden administration, a lead UN official blasted the decision.

“The summary, mass expulsions of individuals currently underway under the Title 42 authority, without screening for protection needs, is inconsistent with international norms and may constitute refoulement,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

Even internally, the decision to deport Haitians has led to resignations and public criticism from longtime government officials and Biden appointees.

“I will not be associated with the United States’ inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs in control of daily life,” Daniel Foote, the US envoy to Haiti under the Biden administration, said in a resignation letter obtained by the New York Times.

A former Biden administration official at the State Department also wrote about his opposition to the deportations in an internal email to staffers upon his exit from his role.

A group of UN human rights experts also publicly criticized the Biden administration’s decision to deport so many in a short period of time.

“In expediting the collective expulsion of Haitian migrants, the United States is subjecting a group of predominantly Black migrants to impermissible risks of refoulement and human rights abuse without any individualised evaluation,” the experts said in a statement.

Hamed Aleaziz is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in San Francisco. Contact Hamed Aleaziz at [email protected].

Haiti
Haiti Migrants
Deportation

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Is the U.S. Covering Up its Role in Moïse’s Murder?
Kim Ives
Is the U.S. Covering Up its Role in Moïse’s Murder?
18 May 2022
The judge presiding over the trial of an accused killer of Haitian president Jovenel Moise granted the DOJ request to classify certain evidence
The OAS, Or the “Ministry of Colonies”
Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Columnist
The OAS, Or the “Ministry of Colonies”
27 April 2022
In the wake of the expulsion of the Organization of the American States from Nicaragua, we need to revisit one of its major crime scenes: Haiti
Rise of Violence, Deterioration of Rights Sparks Month-Long Actions Among Health Workers in Haiti
Peoples Health Dispatch
Rise of Violence, Deterioration of Rights Sparks Month-Long Actions Among Health Workers in Haiti
05 April 2022
Health workers in major public hospitals in Haiti continue to strike over bad working conditions, as others join them to protest a rise in gang
Haiti: A Grassroots Analysis on the State of Affairs Since the Assassination of de facto President Jovenel Moïse
Jelin Esau Jules
Haiti: A Grassroots Analysis on the State of Affairs Since the Assassination of de facto President Jovenel Moïse
30 March 2022
March 29, 2022 - Haitian community activists are out in the streets to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Haitian constitution, drafted af
In Solidarity with Haitian Workers and Migrants
Black Alliance For Peace
In Solidarity with Haitian Workers and Migrants
15 March 2022
Haitians will leave their country by any and all means as long as they live under US backed oligarchic rule.
Two Centuries of War Against Haiti!
Berthony Dupont
Two Centuries of War Against Haiti!
08 March 2022
The Haitian people have been targeted by more powerful nations ever since they dared to secure their freedom two hundred years ago.
A Different “Fight for 15:” Haiti Garment Industry Workers Strike
Mamyrah Prosper
A Different “Fight for 15:” Haiti Garment Industry Workers Strike
02 March 2022
The garment workers' strike in Haiti can't be separated from that nation's history.
Mexico Has Become a "Roofless Prison" for Haitian Refugees—With Biden's Help
Chantal Flores
Mexico Has Become a "Roofless Prison" for Haitian Refugees—With Biden's Help
09 February 2022
Thousands of migrants are trapped at the border as the United States and Mexico crack down on deportations—under Biden’s policies, many will be
Key Suspects Arrested in Jovenel Moise Assassination Plot
Kim Ives
Key Suspects Arrested in Jovenel Moise Assassination Plot
25 January 2022
More arrests have been made in the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise.
from the site: https://www.lawfirm4immigrants.com/bidens-immigration-policy-2021/
Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
The 700,000 Club: Joe Biden’s Deportation Frenzy
19 January 2022
In under a year, the Biden regime has detained and deported more asylum seekers than his predecessor, demonstrating that there is an alignment

More Stories


  • African Liberation Day Special Issue
    BAR Editors
    African Liberation Day Special Issue
    25 May 2022
    The Black Agenda Report team gives special emphasis to African Liberation Day, which is celebrated on May 25.
  • Capitalism and Baby Formula
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Capitalism and Baby Formula
    25 May 2022
    The baby formula shortage is not a glitch in the system. It actually exemplifies everything that goes wrong when the profit motive rules. Capitalism can't ensure a food supply or anything else that…
  • African Liberation Day: Imamu Amiri Baraka, 1972
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    African Liberation Day: Imamu Amiri Baraka, 1972
    25 May 2022
    On this African Liberation Day, we revisit Amiri Baraka’s 1972 communiqué calling for Black people to struggle for Pan-African unity while also registering our anger at the “pathology and traitor…
  • US Threatens Ethiopia and Eritrea with Illegal “Legal Designation of Genocide”
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    US Threatens Ethiopia and Eritrea with Illegal “Legal Designation of Genocide”
    25 May 2022
    The US is falsely accusing Ethiopia and Eritrea of hindering food aid and committing genocides in the ongoing war in Tigray.
  • Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh Remind Us of the Roots of White Supremacy in the Aftermath of Buffalo Shooting
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh Remind Us of the Roots of White Supremacy in the Aftermath of Buffalo Shooting
    25 May 2022
    Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh shared a birthday. They also shared an internationalist ideology, a commitment to liberation for all people, and a deep understanding of how racist structures operated…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us