Haitians see history of racist policies in migrant treatment

The images — men on horseback with long reins, corralling Haitian asylum seekers trying to cross into the US from Mexico — provoked an outcry. But to many Haitians and Black Americans, they're merely confirmation of a deeply held belief: US immigration policies, they say, are and have long been anti-Black.

The Border Patrol's treatment of Haitian migrants, they say, is just the latest in a long history of discriminatory US policies and of indignities faced by Black people, sparking new anger among Haitian Americans, Black immigrant advocates and civil rights leaders.

They point to immigration data that indicate Haitians and other Black migrants routinely face structural barriers to legally entering or living in the US — and often endure disproportionate contact with the American criminal legal system that can jeopardize their residency or hasten their deportation.

Haitians, in particular, are granted asylum at the lowest rate of any nationality with consistently high numbers of asylum seekers, according to an analysis of data by The Associated Press.

“Black immigrants live at the intersection of race and immigration and, for too long, have fallen through the cracks of red tape and legal loopholes,” said Yoliswa Cele, director of narrative and media at the UndocuBlack Network, a national advocacy organization for currently and formerly undocumented Black people.

“Now through the videos capturing the abuses on Haitians at the border, the world has now seen for itself that all migrants seeking a better tomorrow aren't treated equal when skin colour is involved.” Between 2018 and 2021, only 4.62 per cent of Haitian asylum seekers were granted asylum by the US — the lowest rate among 84 groups for whom data is available. Asylum seekers from the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, have a similarly low rate of 5.11 per cent.

By comparison, four of the five top US asylum applicants are from Latin American countries — El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. Their acceptance rates range from 6.21 per cent to 14.12 per cent.

Nicole Phillips, legal director for the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said racism has long driven the American government's treatment of Haitian immigrants.

Phillips, whose organization is on the ground helping Haitians in Texas, says this dates back to the early 1800s, when Haitian slaves revolted and gained independence from France, and has continued through decades of US intervention and occupation in the small island nation.

She said the US, threatened by the possibility of its own slaves revolting, both assisted the French and didn't recognize Haitian independence for nearly six decades. The US also loaned money to Haiti so that it could, in essence, buy its independence, collecting interest payments while plunging the country into poverty for decades.

“This mentality and stigma against Haitians stems all the way back to that period,” Phillips said.

The US violently occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 and backed former Haiti dictator Francois Duvalier, whose oppressive regime resulted in 30,000 deaths and drove thousands to flee.

While the US long treated Cubans with compassion — largely because of opposition to the Communist regime — the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton took a hard line on Haitians. And the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for several nationalities, including Haitians and Central Americans.

Over and over, the US has passed immigration legislation that excluded Black immigrants and Haitians, and promoted policies that unfairly jeopardized their legal status in the country, advocates said.

When they manage to enter the US, Black immigrants say they contend with systemic racism in the American criminal legal system and brutality of US policing that has been endemic for people from across the African diaspora.

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration, a national racial justice and immigrant rights group, largely defines Black immigrants as people from nations in Africa and the Caribbean. By that definition, AP's analysis of 2019 Department of Homeland Security data found 66 per cent of Black immigrants deported from the US were removed based on criminal grounds, as opposed to 43 per cent of all immigrants.

Nana Gyamfi, BAJI's executive director, said crimes of moral turpitude, including petty theft or turnstile jumping, have been used as partial justification for denying Black immigrants legal status. “We have people getting deported because of train fare,” she said.

Leaders within the Movement for Black Lives, a national coalition of Black-led racial justice and civil rights organizations, have pointed to the treatment of Haitians at the border as justification for their broader demands for defunding law enforcement agencies in the US.

Last year, following the police killing of George Floyd, the coalition proposed sweeping federal legislation known as the BREATHE Act, which includes calls to end immigration detention, stop deportations due to contact with the criminal legal system, and ensure due process within the immigration court system.

“A lot of times in the immigration debate, Black people are erased and Black immigrants are erased from the conversation,” said Amara Enyia, a policy researcher for the Movement for Black Lives.