Public Comment

I’m writing with deep disappointment about the horrific use of excess use of force at the hands of US border authorities against Haitians and Black asylum-seekers at the US-Mexico border and the Biden administration’s aggressive expansion of Title 42 expulsions. The cruelty, racism, and oppression against migrants and asylum-seekers at the border cannot go unanswered. 

If the U.S. truly aims to convince the world that its commitment to human rights and racial justice are sincere, then it cannot deny asylum and deport thousands of people who fear for their safety back to a country experiencing extreme instability and massive human rights violations. 

I call on the Biden administration to: 

• Immediately halt any and all deportations to Haiti; 

• Immediately grant humanitarian parole to Haitians at the southern border, and restore access to asylum for all asylum; seekers in accordance with international law; and • Immediately end Title 42 expulsions. 

Images from the airport tarmacs in Kabul and Port-au-Price and the camps in Del Rio have been a damning indictment of the US government’s approach to human rights for all. This is your time to reverse course and show leadership. People in the United States and around the world are watching you.