A to leave Miami Friday deporting undocumented migrants to Haiti. It was the latest in a surge of Haitian deportations under the Biden Administration 鈥� and that鈥檚 prompted by a coalition of immigration advocacy groups.
Since last year, the U.S. has deported some 2,200 Haitians back to Haiti. But 60% of them were removed, not under the anti-immigration Trump Administration but under the new, supposedly more immigrant-friendly Biden Administration.
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The controversy is focused around Title 42, a public health measure activated by the Trump White House ostensibly to protect U.S. border officials from exposure to COVID-19.
In its report titled 鈥淭he Invisible Wall: Title 42 and Its Impact on Haitian Migrants,鈥� the coalition led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, the UndocuBlack Network and the Quixote Center slams Biden for what it calls "doubling down" on the Trump policy 鈥� which routinely denies migrants petition for asylum.
鈥淗aiti is a nation in systematic collapse 鈥� extraordinary conditions exist which make it unsafe to deport anyone there," said Steven Forester, the Miami-based immigration policy coordinator for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.
Forester points to the country's economic, political and especially public security meltdown, which has spawned a terrifying ransom kidnapping wave.
"So this is an unconscionable policy,鈥� he said.
The Biden Administration has not explained why it's significantly ramping up Haitian deportations. But Forester says it contradicts what President Biden told Haitians last year as a candidate.
鈥淧resident Biden when he was in Miami said he would end deportations to Haiti," Forester said. "He didn鈥檛 say, 鈥楾here鈥檚 a technical loophole, we鈥檒l call it something else and still deport people.鈥� So he鈥檚 breaking his promise to the Haitian community.
"This is just another example of Haitians getting the short end of the immigration policy stick."
