Schumer urges Biden to stop expelling Haitian migrants

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to stop its deportation of Haitian immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing that the decision to return them to Port-au-Prince “defies common sense.”

“I’m told there are four flights scheduled to deport these asylum-seekers back to a country that cannot receive them. Such a decision defies common sense. It also defies common decency,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.

“I urge President Biden and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas to immediately put a stop to these expulsions and to end this Title 42 policy at our southern border. We cannot continue these hateful and xenophobic Trump policies that disregard our refugee laws,” Schumer added.

The Biden administration this week began deporting Haitian immigrants who were camped out under a bridge in Texas near the Mexican border. The Associated Press reported that three flights arrived in the Haitian capital on Sunday, with a half-dozen more flights expected this week.

Immigration officials are using Title 42 to carry out the expulsions. The provision in the federal health law allows the administration to expel immigrants without giving them the chance to apply for asylum.

U.S. Border Patrol officials have estimated that roughly 12,000 migrants have taken shelter under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.

Haiti has been in turmoil after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in August.

Mayorkas visited the border area on Monday, saying the administration will ramp up the pace of the expulsions.

“If you come to the U.S. illegally, you will be returned,” he said.

But the White House distanced itself from photos that appeared to show Border Patrol agents on horseback using whips.

Schumer referred to the photos on Monday, calling them “completely unacceptable.”

“The policies that are being enacted now and the horrible treatment of these innocent people who have come to the border must stop immediately,” Schumer said.

Tags Chuck Schumer Joe Biden

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