The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr. The Honorable Kamala Harris
President of the United States Vice President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20500 Washington, D.C. 20500
The Honorable Chuck Schumer The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Majority Leader Speaker of the House of Representatives
United States Senate United States House of Representatives
322 Hart Senate Office Building U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515
September 22, 2021
Dear President Biden, Vice President Harris, Majority Leader Schumer, and Speaker Pelosi,
We at the UndocuBlack Network, Haitian Bridge Alliance, United We Dream, the Movement for Black Lives and the 236 undersigned organizations begin with the following foundational belief: Immigration is a Black issue. For decades, the world has witnessed unstable environmental and political conditions in Haiti act as consistent roadblocks to peace and liberation for the island nation and its people. We understand these conditions are the direct result of centuries of financial and political punishment from global colonial powers, as revenge for Haiti’s unapologetic seizing of its own freedom as the world’s first Black-led republic. The U.S. has a sordid history of specifically targeting Haitians for anti-Black discrimination, violence, expulsion, mass detention, and more. Most recently, the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, a devastating earthquake, the COVID-19 pandemic, and multiple storms caused by climate change have thrown Haiti into a whirlwind of overlapping crises. Logically, thousands of Haitians with the ability to seek protection elsewhere have traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border, enduring perilous conditions and exploitation along the way. Fueled by the natural human instinct to survive, many Haitians are fleeing their beloved home for the unknown, as we have seen thousands of migrants from other countries (including European countries) do throughout history.
The Historical Context
Thousands of migrants from various countries grappling with dangerous conditions seek protection and asylum at the U.S. border. However, we know that Black immigrants (from Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America) worldwide are subjected to disproportionate mistreatment, discrimination, and violence: Black immigrants are overwhemingly unwelcome. We have seen and read the stories of rafts of Black immigrants being left out to sea by European countries who refuse to rescue and accept them; many thousands of Black immigrants seeking a better life have died preventable deaths due to the cruelty and abandonment of global Western powers. In the U.S., all Black immigrants are disproportionately demonized by anti-Black immigration policies and are the targets of violence and exclusion at the border, medical abuses while in detention, overcriminalization, mass detention, and deportation. We understand the U.S.’s constant mistreatment of Black immigrants is rooted in the larger context of the U.S’s foundational principles of anti-Black and anti-indigenous violence and genocide.
Without invitation and without justification, Western countries have brutally pillaged resources, stolen land, enslaved generations, and continuously interfered with the politics and governance of Black countries for centuries. Today, the same citizens of those destabilized nations seek refuge at the borders of their colonizers and are met with contempt and violence. The U.S., a country that kidnapped Black people from the African continent for generations of torture as enslaved tools of empire, now blazes a new, horrific trail in the abuse of Black immigrants that have come to its borders for the chance of a better tomorrow.
The Current Situation
Right now, thousands of Haitians are stranded in treacherous conditions in Mexican border towns. There, Haitian migrants are facing open violence from CBP that is reminiscent of the horrific practices endured by their enslaved ancestors centuries ago--photos of officers using reins for horses on migrants simply trying to purchase water and food as they wait for the chance to seek protection. Under international law, Haitians have the right to seek asylum in the U.S.; instead, they have faced insurmountable barriers to entry due to Title 42. More than two thousand Haitians already in the country have been deported under the Biden Administration, including pregnant women and toddlers. Haitians are being deported back to the same dire conditions that have been internationally categorized as a humanitarian crisis, spurring a new designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the Biden Administration a mere month ago. TPS for Haiti protects Haitians living in the U.S. from deportation; it is wholly illogical and unequivocally cruel to now expel and deport thousands of Haitians arriving at the border to those very same conditions.
Our Urgent Demands
Black immigrants have risked their lives and livelihoods to keep the U.S. safe, healthy, and running during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic while also facing the specter of deportation. We firmly believe that migration is a human right and for Black immigrants, it is a form of reparations for centuries of colonialism and extraction. As such, we urge the Biden Administration to pursue a coherent and just foreign policy agenda with Haiti and Black immigrants as a whole by immediately implementing the following measures:
Halt Deportations and End the Use of Title 42 at the Border and at All Ports of Entry
Since March 2020, the U.S. has been illegally denying migrants the legal right to seek asylum by presenting themselves at the U.S.-Mexico border or at other ports of entry, under the guise of protecting U.S Citizens from COVID-19. The U.S. has domestic legal and international treaty obligations to protect asylum seekers and allow them to pursue their asylum claims with dignity. Instead, the Biden Administration has purposely and belligerently continued the Trump Administration’s legacy of expelling migrants and stranding them at the border where they face violence and harm. Black migrants--and particularly Haitian migrants--face even more danger at the border, where they are harmed by anti-Black violence and discrimination while waiting in Mexico. Countless public health specialists, scientists, and doctors have decried the use of Title 42 as having no basis in public health. Title 42 is discriminatory and violates the law and human decency. The Biden Administration must immediately halt all border expulsions and deportations flights to Haiti and other Black countries, end the use of Title 42, and restore the right to seek asylum.
2. Enact Wide-Scale Humanitarian Parole for Haitians
The Biden Administration has the clear authority to enact a sweeping program of humanitarian parole for Haitian migrants at the border. Humanitarian parole is used to bring people who are otherwise inadmissible into the U.S. for a temporary period of time due to an emergency. Haiti is facing unmitigated, multi-layered emergencies in response to the recent presidential asssination and even more recent climate disasters. The Biden Administration must create and prioritize an expedited system where Haitians at the border can easily apply for humanitarian parole without hefty application fees, onerous documentary requirements, or discriminatory interviews. Providing humanitarian parole allows Haitians seeking protection to do so in conditions that do not directly threaten their lives and to reunite with their families. The Biden Administration must work with nonprofits and NGOs to provide Haitians with free legal assistance in this process. As the U.S. has responded to the urgent crisis in Afghanistan by providing Afghan immigrants with the option to apply for humanitarian parole or Special Immigrant Visas, so too must the U.S. respond to the urgent crisis and protect Haitian migrants by offering and facilitating the same opportunities.
3. Defund and Divest from DHS, ICE, and CBP
The Biden Administration must drastically defund and divest from DHS’s bloated budget of billions of dollars used to harm and exclude immigrants. Particularly, the Biden Administration must pull in the reins on ICE and CBP, who enact the most harm to Black immigrants and our communities. These agencies must have their budgets slashed so that they cannot spend more taxpayer dollars on abusing immigrants and denying their right to seek asylum, refugee status, and protection. Further, the Office of the Inspector General must immediately start an investigation into the use of whips, or whip-like devices, and other mistreatment of Haitians by CBP. We understand the current system of mass detention began the detention of Haitian immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s. This system is irredeemable and must be torn down.
4. Invest in Humane, Holistic Immigration
Instead of an immigration system focused on deterrence and deportation, the Biden Administration must radically reinvent how we welcome immigrants with dignity. Instead of deputized immigration officers, migrants seeking protection should be met with a team of medical, psychological, and social work professionals to conduct a humane intake process. The Biden Administration must implement a process during which immigrants can apply for asylum, refugee status, and other protection while being provided high-quality, trauma-informed holistic care. Further, immigrants should be provided with end-to-end logistical assistance: free flights or other transportation to family members in the U.S., financial assistance, housing assistance, child care assistance, work permits, and much more, while awaiting the adjudication of their asylum or other cases. Furthermore, the Biden Administration must immediately provide food, water, and access to health care to Haitians and all Black immigrants who are currently waiting in Del Rio. The time is long past to abandon the cruel approaches of yesterday and write a new chapter in U.S. immigration history.
#WinWithBlackWomen
1847 Philanthropic
A. Philip Randolph Institute
ABISA
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs
African Family Health Organization (AFAHO)
African Public Affairs Committee
Al Otro Lado
Aldea - The People's Justice Center
Alianza Americas
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
All Faculty Association, Santa Rosa Junior College
Alliance in Defense of Black Immigrants
Alliance San Diego
America's Voice
American Friends Service Committee
Arizona Justice For Our Neighbors
Asia Adams Save Our Children Foundation
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
ASISTA
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP)
Bahai's For Race Unity
Barry University School of Social Work
Belle Meadow Farm
Black Feminist Future
Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP)
Black Lives Matter Global Network
Black Voters Matter Fund
Black Women's Roundtable, NCBCP
BLUU - Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism
Boston Muslim Young Professionals
Bridges Faith Initiative
Brooklyn Community Bail Fund
BTAN Atlanta
By God's Grace
California Immigrant Policy Center*
California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA)
Cameroon Advocacy Network.
Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition
Caribbean Community Service Center
CASA
Casa Mariposa Detention Visitation Program
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center for Popular Democracy
Center for Third World Organizing
Central Florida Jobs with Justice
Centro Laboral de Graton
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America
Cleveland Jobs with Justice
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC)*
Colorado Jobs with Justice
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR)
Community Justice Exchange
Connecticut Shoreline Indivisible
Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund
Connecticut Working Families Party
Contra Costa Immigrant Rights Alliance*
Detention Watch Network
Equality Labs
Ethiopian Community Association of Greater Philadelphia
Faith and Works Statewide Collective
Faith for Justice
Faith in Action
Faith in Public Life
Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement
Families for Freedom
First Focus on Children
First Friends of New Jersey & New York
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Friends of Immigration
Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa
Georgia Familias Unidas
Georgia Stand-UP/Stand-UP Black Women's Roundtable
Glimmer of Hope and Friends of Immigration
Global Justice Clinic, Washington Square Legal Services
Global Social Work, LLC
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Guadalupe Presbyterian Church USA detention ministry
Haiti Renewal Alliance
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Happied
Harriet’s Wildest Dreams
Hartford Deportation Defense
Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program
Healthy and Free Tennessee
HIAS Pennsylvania
Highlander Research & Education Center
Hispanic Federation
History instructor SRJC
Hope Border Institute
Houston Coalition Against Hate
Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc.
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigrant Justice Network
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Immigrants’ Rights Working Group of Democratic Socialists of America
Immigration Hub
ImmSchools
Indivisible
Indivisible CLE
Institute for the Advancement of Minority Health
International Mayan League
International Museum of Muslim Cultures
IRIS - Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services
J. Hardwick Law, P.L.L.C.
Jobs With Justice
Just Futures Law
Justice Action Center
La Conexion
La Resistencia
Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)
Legal Aid at Work
Liberation PAC
Life After Release
Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition
Long Island Jobs with Justice
LSN Legal LLC
Luminus Network for New Americans, Inc.
Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Maine Equal Justice
Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition
Make the Road Connecticut
Make the Road Nevada
Make the Road New York*
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Masjid Muhammad
Massachusetts Jobs With Justice
Mauritanian Network for Human Rights
Mayor's Commission on African and Caribbean Affairs
MEChA at Santa Rosa Junior College
Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project
Mississippi Center for Justice
Mothers Against Police Brutality
Motivation Motivates
Mountain Vista Unitarian Universalist Church (Tucson, AZ)
Movement for Black Lives
Mississippi MOVE, Inc.
Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)*
National Employment Law Project
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG)*
National Lawyers Guild - San Francisco Bay Area Immigration Committee
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC)*
National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA)
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New Mainers Alliance
New Mexico Comunidades en Accion y de Fe (CAFe)
North Bay Jobs with Justice
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
Northwest Indiana Resist
NYC Action Lab
NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic
O.V. Catto Voter Empowerment Initiative
Oasis Legal Services
Ohio Immigrant Alliance
One Love Global
One Voice
Operation Good
Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN)
Organizing Black
Peoples Advocacy Institute
Poder Latinx
Presente.org
Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration*
Progressive Images Marketing Communications
Public Counsel*
RAICES
Reclaiming Our Time
Respond Crisis Translation
Revolve Impact
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium
Santa Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa Junior College - All Faculty Association
Santa Rosa Junior College Mathematics Department
Santa Rosa Junior College, ESL Faculty
SEEDS-HAITI, Inc.
SEIU United Service Workers West
Semilla Collective
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Siblings Keeper
Sojourners
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)*
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
Southern Border Communities Coalition
Stand Up N Do Something
Student Fans of Asylum and Immigration Reform (FAIR)
Standing Up for Racial Justice Ohio
Tahirih Justice Center
Taylormade Educational Entertainment Records
Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition
Texas Civil Rights Project
Texas Working Families Party
The Advocates for Human Rights
The Black Collective
The BlackOUT Collective
The Business Center
The Children’s Partnership
The Fabulous Life by Dr. Jay
The Frontline
The House of the Lord Churches
The Idea Inc.
The PropheticleighSpeakn Foundation
The Smile Trust
Transformations CDC
Transgender Law Center
Traumatologists Network, Inc.
Tucson Baha'is For Race Unity
UFCW Local 1445
UndocuBlack Network
Unified Asian Communities (UAC)
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United African Organization
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
United We Dream
United Working Families
Universidad Popular
Until Freedom
Voters Legal Justice Watch Group
Win Without War
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
Witness at the Border
Workers Defense Project
Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights
*Indicates signatories after September 22, 2021
