The Treatment of Haitian Immigrants on our Southern Border is the Essence of Inhumanity

A statement from Claude Cummings, Jr., Vice President of Communications Workers of America District 6 and Co-Chair of the CWA Executive Board’s Human Rights Committee:

Federal agents and those who supervise and direct them are supposed to bring humanity to border security, but the treatment of Haitian immigrants on our southern border is the essence of inhumanity.

Rather than continue operating under rules we all know were adopted in a Trump-world atmosphere of racism and hate, the Administration should issue new orders that allow a chance to gain asylum to those who need it. And they must demand compassionate treatment to all people who come to our border, even those who must be returned to their country.

Bad policies left over from Donald Trump shouldn’t give cover for massive deportations that don’t allow the chance to gain asylum for those who a return to Haiti would mean suffering, oppression, and even death. The poisonous Title 42 order issued by Donald Trump is not policy, it is persecution. It should be revoked.

President Biden may have been dealt a horrible hand at our southern border due to a generation of failure made worse than ever by Donald Trump. Republican leaders in Congress may stand in the way of solutions because they consider inhumanity and suffering political capital to divide Americans against one another for their own partisan gain.

But holding a bad hand does not excuse or explain whips across the backs of any human being. The sight of border patrol agents on horseback whipping and herding Black men and women is shameful. It must stop. Things must change.

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