Democratic Trifecta Set to Fail Millions of immigrants as Spending Bill Omits Immigration Relief and Doubles Down on Trump Era Enforcement Priorities

For Immediate Release

December 20th, 2022 

Washington DC,  The UndocuBlack Network condemns the 217th Congress and the Biden Administration for falling woefully short on their promises to immigrant communities. The bill text for the Omnibus glaringly omits any form of relief to various immigrant populations, while preserving and amplifying harmful enforcement policies. At a time when DACA is on life support, TPS designations for majority Black countries are few and far in between, and even more still a remaining 7-8 million undocumented people face no automony to permanent residency.  Mass deportations and expulsions continue at the hands of a Biden-Harris run DHS and with this background, Congress had the opportunity and obligation to act. Instead, they chose to funnel billions of dollars to ICE and CBP while leaving millions of people’s lives in limbo. The bill makes unconscionable concessions to grant the Department of Homeland and Security items that are firmly against the rights, liberties or interests of immigrants which plainly include: 

• Billions of dollars of funding for ICE and CBP:  Although advocacy groups such as UndocuBlack Network and our Defund Hate partners urged lawmakers to cut funding to  ICE and CBP, the current bill increased ICE and CBP’s funding from $8.3 billion in FY22 to $8.4 billion in FY23. 

•  Maintaining the status quo of the Anti-Black  immigration detention system: The FY23 omnibus will continue the same funding amount  ICE has received to cage immigrants since FY21 - which allows for the detention of about 34,000 people. Under this spending bill, Black migrants will continue to languish in immigration detention far longer than their non-Black counterparts, and have higher bond amounts for release. 

• Targeting of People with  Visa Overstays: Visa Overstays. The current bill requires DHS to submit an updated report outlining its strategy for overstay enforcement and deterrence no  later than 180 days after the date of passage of the bill. The  bill further requires DHS to detail ongoing actions to identify immigrants who have overstayed their visas/ track overstays for enforcement action. If passed this provision stands to put thousands of people at risk of deportation, many who are Black immigrants. 

• Funding for hiring more Border Patrol agents/ surveillance: A year after the infamous Del Rio images of Border Patrol agents seemingly whipping Black migrants, the spending bill provides funding for 19,855 Border Patrol agents. The bill also increases funding for surveillance border technology such as data sharing systems, which will inevitably infining on border communities and migrants rights to privacy,

• A Deliberate Omission of Life Saving Immigration provisions: The current text for the  omnibus  does not include any provision that would provide green cards and a pathway to citizenship to various immigrant populations including immigrant youth and TPS holders.  

Voting for this bill after a long year of uncertainty for immigrant  communities, several deaths at the border– a direct result of harmful enforcement policies, and over 20,000 deportations/expulsions to majority Black countries such as Haiti, would be  a vote for hate and anti-Blackness. 

Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director of UndocuBlack Network said  "Over the years and in fact in recent weeks we have seen many Members of Congress reaffirming their position as champions of immigrants. Anyone who has the interest of immigrants, all immigrants regardless of skin color,creed, national origin or gender must reject this omnibus package. There is nothing that provides certainty for Undocumented people at a time when the stakes are at an all time high. There are no protections but instead countless repercussions and plans to investigate and criminalize immigrants such as visa overstays,  detained asylum seekers or round up and terrorize immigrants with long lasting ties in the a united States. This bill harms immigrant communities and must not pass. We demand green cards for so many of us who have no other pathway to permanent status and seek the elegant, simple option of updating  the registry date so that we may autonomously adjust immigration status and access resources,  certainty and a fuller life." 

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‘Criminalizing Blackness’: New Report Analyses the Impact of Criminal Bill and Immigration Bill on Black People

Study finds how the Criminal Bill and the Immigration Bill have put more Black people in prison in the United States than were enslaved in the 1800s

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 8, 2022

 Media contacts: Bethelhem T. Negash, bethelhem@undocublack.org

 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Black migrants have to simultaneously contend with anti-Blackness in the criminal legal system and the legal status stigma all immigrants must face while navigating a broken immigration and asylum system in the United States, according to a groundbreaking report released today by Black-led and immigrant rights organizations. 

 Authored by The UndocuBlack Network, the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), Law For Black Lives (L4BL), and Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the first-of-its-kind report analyzes how doubly punishing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (more popularly known as the ‘94 Crime Bill and the 1996 Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IRAIRA) and Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) are for Black folks, and highlight the bills’ combined immense harm especially on Black immigrants.

The analysis reveals a disturbing pattern of mass incarceration and criminalization of Blackness expediting the deportation of 76 percent of Black immigrants on criminal grounds, compared to 45 percent of all immigrants [and] despite making up only 7.2 percent of the noncitizen population in the US. The two bills funnel the prison-deportation pipeline and more than 20 percent of people facing deportation on criminal grounds are Black.

The report highlights how the 1994 Crime Bill has been extensively analyzed and critiqued but less prominent have been the critiques of anti-Blackness built into the US immigration system and analysis of the ways in which immigration policy specifically criminalizes Black people.

To truly begin undoing the harms caused by IRAIRA and to provide a way forward for countless Black immigrants seeking freedom, peace, and opportunity for themselves and their communities, the report offers vital policy recommendations applicable for federal, state and local level. Some of the essential policy recommendations include:

• Rebalance spending priorities

• Build community based mobile responses. This is the essence of economic justice.

• End the retroactive application of '96 bill. End permanent deportation. 

• End mandatory detention. 

• End ICE / police collab programs.

“The U.S. has always criminalized immigration in an effort to control the racial makeup of this country. Similarly the U.S. has and continues to criminalize Blackness. From the inception of slave patrols, Black Codes, the creation of ICE and CBP– policymakers have been devising creative ways to codify state sanctioned violence through the criminal justice/immigration enforcement systems. The existence and passage of laws like the 1994 crime bill and the 1996 immigration reform bill exemplify the reach and consequences of anti-Black policies” said Haddy Gassama, Policy and Advocacy Director at UndocuBlack Network. “There are more Black people in prison in the United States than were enslaved in the 1800s, and that's a direct result of these two laws.”

Read the full report here.

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The UndocuBlack Networks Celebrates the Relentless Efforts of Haitian Community Members and Advocates Which Led to the Extension and Redesignation of TPS for Haiti

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 6, 2022

Contact: Bethelhem Negash, bethelhem@undocublack.org 

Washington, DC – The UndocuBlack Network celebrates the hard earned victory that is the extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. This decision came after months of advocacy led by impacted community members, Black immigrant organizations, and allies. International bodies such as the  UN Security Council are considering interventions in Haiti and describing the situation on the ground as  “absolutely nightmarish…” due to civil unrest caused by years of post-colonial and imperialist meddling in Haitian affairs, gang violence, an economic crisis and a cholera outbreak that is wreaking havoc in the nation. These country conditions  meet and exceed the legal standard needed for a TPS designation, yet what should have been a simple humanitarian choice took months of strenuous efforts of issuing multiple letters, petitions and calls to the Biden-Harris administration. 

“We should not have to convince an administration that touts racial equity as a priority,  that it is not a good idea to expel and deport Black migrants into a country that is both on literal and figurative fire. ”

Temporary Protected Status is a form of humanitarian relief, created by Congress to be used judiciously. Dire conditions such as the ones we are witnessing in Haiti are a textbook example of why TPS exists. There is an overwhelming amount of reporting and evidence which affirms that any person deported or expelled to Haiti could face imminent harm or even death. It is with this understanding of the dangers on the ground in Haiti that the UndocuBlack Network  breathes a massive sigh of relief after yesterday’s decisions.

Haddy Gassama, Policy and Advocacy Director of the UndocuBlack Network, said “ We are grateful for the leadership of our partners at Haitian Bridge Alliance and other organizations, many of whom supported a recent  letter calling for the extension and redesignation of TPS for Haiti. Yet, we also hold the frustrating truth that getting to a yes on a redesignation of  TPS for Haiti should not have taken non-stop advocacy up until the eleventh hour. We should not have to convince an administration that touts racial equity as a priority,  that it is not a good idea to expel and deport Black migrants into a country that is both on literal and figurative fire. As the Biden-Harris administration weighs options for processing migrants after a Title-42 wind down and Congress considers a legislative framework that could codify Title-42, we urge the administration and Members of Congress to lean towards humanely welcoming migrants in a dignified manner. We also call for the same humanitarian protection given to our Haitian brothers and sisters through TPS to be extended to other nations such as Mauritania and Mali, both of which meet the legal standards for a TPS designation.” 

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The UndocuBlack Network receives largest-ever grant award from the Mackenzie Scott Foundation

 November 16, 2022

Washington D.C. — The UndocuBlack Network (UBN) has been announced as a recipient of a one-time grant from the Mackenzie Scott Foundation. This award is the largest the Network has received to date from an individual or an organization. The Network plans to engage in thoughtful, deliberate stewardship of the resources to develop projects and frameworks that focus on stabilizing, sustaining and strengthening the UndocuBlack Community.  

The UndocuBlack Network is a multi-generational network of currently and formerly undocumented Black people that fosters community, facilitates access to resources, and advocates to transform the realities of Black migrants to thrive and live life to the fullest.  The Network has ushered in victories for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF), the first piece of legislation passed in the last twenty years to provide green cards to undocumented people. UBN has also fought for the continuation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as it faced termination in the courts and continues to fight for the legalization of all 11 million undocumented people. The Network has spearheaded powerful media narratives centering Black undocumented people while combatting the criminalization of Black lives through unjust deportation and detention. We do this work through some mental wellness lens, centering the dignity and well-being of our membership.  

The Mackenzie Scott Foundation is a US-based foundation founded and led by Mackenzie Scott, a philanthropist, author and business woman who has been in the news for donating $8 billion in the past two years to nonprofit organizations.  

UBN deeply appreciates this grant and how it will facilitate the work that we do in our community. As truth tellers, we also acknowledge that wealth of this magnitude and its giving vehicles are a byproduct of the stolen resources and exploitation of labor of Black and Indigenous communities around the world. By default, UndocuBlack's ability to accept and make use of this grant– even if for the purpose of continuing to fight systems of oppression and dismantling racism – is a privilege. We name and recognize that systems that foster structural inequalities are the same systems that motor force surplus wealth into philanthropy. We hope this vote of confidence in the UndocuBlack Community will inspire others to support our work to bring about true collective liberation.  

“The UndocuBlack Network is elated about this grant award from the Mackenzie Scott Foundation,” says the UndocuBlack Network’s Executive Director Patrice Lawrence. “At the same time, we acknowledge that wealth of this magnitude is a result of continued exploitation of Black and Indigenous people around the world. UBN has always been fearless and visionary in our approach to advocating for our members and fighting for equitable and liberatory policies. We want our people to thrive and exist in a place of ease. We understand that sometimes the difference between an easeful existence and one riddled with fear and anxiety comes down to access to resources. This funding will enable us to develop creative solutions and continue carrying out the vital work we’ve been doing since 2016.”

This award recognizes the UndocuBlack Network's commitment, mission and work to advocate for and stand with its communities. To learn more about our work with the communities we serve and to stay engaged with the efforts these resources will support, visit the UndocuBlack Network at www.undocublack.org.

Haitian Bridge Alliance, the UndocuBlack Network, and Over 280 Organizations Call on Biden Administration to Reject Plans to House Haitian Refugees in Guantánamo Bay

WASHINGTON — The Haitian Bridge Alliance, the UndocuBlack Network, and over 280 civil and human rights organizations sent a letter calling on President Biden to protect Haitian asylum seekers. The administration must not send Haitians seeking safety back to Haiti, third countries, or detain them in Guantánamo Bay.  

The letter, published today by the Haitian Bridge Alliance and the UndocuBlack Network, outlines the United States’ pattern of disparate and discriminatory treatment towards Haitian refugees seeking protection and the prior human rights abuses that Haitians previously suffered from while detained at Guantánamo Bay. The letter also details concrete steps the Biden administration can take to protect Haitian asylum seekers, uphold human rights, and follow through on commitments to advance racial equity. 

“It is past time for the United States, and the Biden administration, to pursue these rights-respecting actions, and end the pattern of discriminatory and disparate treatment inflicted on Haitians seeking U.S. protection,” the letter states. “During your administration, Haitians have been met with summary push-backs at the hands of the U.S. Coast Guard. People have died and continue to die at sea while seeking protection at U.S. shores. Rather than protecting them, the United States further victimizes these individuals by returning them to danger.” 

The letter continues, “Your administration has the power to turn the page on these harmful and discriminatory policies. We urge you to do right by Haitian people seeking protection, whether by land or at sea, to live up to our humanitarian obligations, and build an equitable humanitarian protection system that welcomes those seeking refuge.” 

A PDF of the full letter and signatories can be found here. 

‘Uncovering the Truth’: New Report Confirms Disproportionate Abuse and Violence Against Black Migrants in Immigration Detention

Study finds disturbing pattern of racism, violence and harm perpetrated by ICE against Black migrants

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Black migrants are subject to abuse and a disturbing pattern of racism, violence and harm at disproportionately higher incidence than non-Black migrants while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a groundbreaking report released today by Black-led and immigrants rights organizations. 

Authored by the Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP), Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), UndocuBlack Network, and Freedom for Immigrants (FFI), the first-of-its-kind study draws on nearly 17,000 call records from FFI’s National Immigration Detention Hotline spanning a six year period. 

The data reveal a disturbing pattern of abuse perpetrated against Black migrants by ICE, private detention contractors and officials at contracting jails. Key findings include: 

• 28 percent of all abuse-related reports made to the FFI hotline come from Black migrants, despite accounting for only only six percent of the total ICE detention population; 

• In some detention facilities in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana, Black migrants are almost twice as likely to experience abuse inside detention compared to non-Black migrants; 

• Black non-binary migrants are 3.5 times more likely to experience abuse in immigration detention;

• A new FOIA request corroborated a previous study that found that 24 percent of all people in solitary confinement are Black;

• Over 53 percent of the most high-intensity and life-threatening cases that FFI intervened on in the six year period were on behalf of Black migrants. 

“No one should live in fear or face punishment like this, especially not for the color of their skin or where they were born,” said Moussa Haba, an author of the report and monitoring fellow with Freedom for Immigrants who was previously detained by ICE. “The United States calls itself the land of the free, but for this to be true, Black migrants like me deserve to live in freedom, not from behind bars. What I experienced in detention was the opposite of freedom. Significant trauma was inflicted upon me during this time. I was subject to an unending racism in detention, and our new report demonstrates that I am not alone. It’s clear that detention must end to stop this cycle of abuse—and our fight to abolish detention is really a fight for freedom.”

“Being detained as an immigrant and having to fight for my freedom, I have faced discrimination based on my race,” said Marlissa, a 22-year-old Bahamian woman from South Florida currently detained at the Baker County Detention Center in Florida. “I have faced a lot of racism, a lot of disrespect, and a lot of unfairness in this system. I was threatened with solitary confinement after officers used racial slurs against me. Being detained, it’s like you have no say and you have no rights. It’s as if they look at you like you're beneath them, and the door is just being slammed in your face like you're an animal. Once released and given a second chance, the first thing I want to do is see my family because it's been almost three years. Then I want to continue my enrollment in college to follow my dream, and I want to continue to try to be successful in life and be a role model to my siblings and society.” 

“It is not shocking that Black migrants in detention describe their conditions as torture, because detention is torture,” said Ronald Claude, director of policy & advocacy with Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI). “Our report ‘Uncovering the Truth’ makes it clear that the U.S. immigration system is anti-Black. Detention is one of the enduring legacies of this country’s history of slavery and Jim Crow laws. Collecting race and ethnicity data is critical as it makes visible the Black people detained by the U.S. government.”

““The profit-driven mass incarceration system of the U.S. is built on the backs of formerly enslaved Black people and Black migrants,” ”

— Haddy Gassama

“The profit-driven mass incarceration system of the U.S. is built on the backs of formerly enslaved Black people and Black migrants,” said Haddy Gassama, policy and advocacy director of UndocuBlack Network. “White supremacist sentiments and anti-Blackness are not only endemic in the current systems of policing and immigration enforcement, they were the driving factors for the existence of these inhumane institutions. The U.S. has the world's largest carceral system, and Black folks bear the heaviest brunt of its cruelty. Immigration is a Black issue, and as long as the practice of detention exists, Black migrants will always face anti-Blackness within the system that was built to uniquely harm them. The findings of this report affirm the call for the complete abolition of all forms of detention.”

"Detention is abusive, harmful and foremost anti-Black,” said Zack Mohamed, deportation defense coordinator with the Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP). “We need to abolish this practice, as it denies the dignity and humanity of migrants. This report not only lists the harms and abuse, but also has recommendations, and we call on the Biden administration and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to exercise the power they currently have to abolish detention."

"Anti-Black racism and violence is a systemic, defining feature of immigration detention,” said Amanda Díaz, national hotline manager with Freedom for Immigrants. “Rooted in white supremacy, immigration detention is an extension of the racist mass incarceration system, functioning as yet another institution designed to oppress and criminalize Black people in the U.S. Our findings affirm the truth that Black advocates in detention have been calling attention to for years: Detained Black migrants are targeted with anti-Black racism, far higher levels of abuse, and unfair outcomes. The Biden administration has effectively condoned this abuse by continuing to rely on detention and other deterrence policies. We must end the dehumanization of Black migrants and the detention system that sustains this legacy of anti-Black violence. It’s past time Black migrants were welcomed with human dignity, not cages.” 

The study’s findings add to a growing body of evidence of anti-Black racism in immigration detention, which has previously been documented in past reports, civil rights complaints and memos to DHS published or filed by Black-led groups and other immigrants rights groups. The internal organizing and advocacy work of detained Black migrants has been critical to establishing this pattern of racism and disparate treatment. 

To end the systemic abuse of Black migrants, the groups call for an end to immigration detention. Among other administrative, legislative, humanitarian and state-level strategies, advocates also urge the Biden administration to publicly recognize and condemn the rampant abuse of Black migrants and use its discretion to release Black migrants to allow them to resolve their immigration proceedings from the safety of their families and communities. 

Read the full report here.

Para leer este reporte en español, haga click aquí.

Pour lire ce rapport en français, cliquez ici. 

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND 
The detainment of Black immigrants stems from a long legacy of violence, control and abuse of Black people in the United States. In recent decades, the immigration detention system has served to further entrench the mass incarceration and criminalization of Black people. Like all Black people in the U.S., Black migrants are stopped, searched and arrested at higher rates than non-Black migrants, and are disproportionately represented among detained immigrants facing deportation in immigration court on criminal grounds. 

Concerningly, anti-Black abuse in detention is effectively obscured by the government since ICE does not gather racial demographic data nor provide any public information about its data collection practices regarding race, a practice that is standard among other governmental agencies and law enforcement. 

Despite the ongoing abuse and racism, Black migrants continue to resist, speak out and advocate for their freedom. The report documents several examples of resistance across detention facilities in the South, where a lasting legacy of Black and Indigenous-led movements and resistance persist, oftentimes in the same jails and prisons constructed in the eras of Jim Crow, forced penal labor and mass incarceration. 

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ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS

The UndocuBlack Network is a community of currently and formerly undocumented Black migrants fighting to shift narratives, promote wellness, while advocating for policies that allow Black immigrants to not only survive but thrive.

Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP) builds and centers the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants to ensure the liberation of all Black people through community-building, political education, creating access to direct services, and organizing across borders.

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) fights for the rights of African American and Black migrants through organizing, legal advocacy, research, policy, and narrative building to improve the conditions of Black communities by advancing racial justice and migrant rights. 

Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. FFI monitors the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while promoting community-based services that welcome immigrants into the social fabric of the United States. 

The Fifth Circuit is the latest to continue the pattern of toying with DACA recipient lives through endless litigation

Yesterday’s ruling sends case back to the lower courts

Washington, D.C. — Yesterday evening, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Texas v United States against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program. The panel of judges  remanded  the case back to Judge Hanen in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas to ultimately decide the future  of the program. While the court ruled that the DACA program is unlawful, this ruling maintains a stay that will allow for current DACA recipients to continue renewing their applications. 

The UndocuBlack Network remains undeterred  in our fight to defend DACA  while demanding that the Biden-Harris Administration and its Democrat-led Congress act now. We’ve always known that DACA was not enough and that the program would keep members of our community in legal limbo, holding their breath between court rulings. Green cards and eventual citizenship for all immigrant families and communities is the only way for our people to truly live in this country, rather than just exist in the spaces between litigation results and temporary program deadlines. 

Yesterday’s Fifth Circuit ruling demonstrated that litigations over DACA are unabating and in the absence of a permanent protection, DACA and other temporary protections will continue to be at the mercy and whim of court adjudications that will continue to toy with the lives of our communities. 

Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director of UndocuBlack Said: The Biden-Harris Administration has the trifecta, the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate. That remains true at least until January 2023. Despite of all this power, what also remains true is that since the beginning of this presidency, the Biden-Harris Administration, like previous administrations, have treated undocumented people with little to no regard for their dignity. Through lost opportunities to create a DACA rule that allowed for processing of new applications, and the lack of legislation that would provide our people with green cards and opportunities to apply for citizenship, the Biden-Harris Administration has failed us. However, these harms can be remedied before the end of the 117th Congress. It is still possible for Congress to pass  legislation that permanently protects all undocumented people regardless of age, background, gender, how they pray or their ethnicity. Black undocumented people have waited too long, organized too hard for our communities to be perpetually pushed aside and tossed around at the whim of the U.S. judicial system. We know Judge Hanen's anti-immigrant track record and can predict that he will likely not rule favorably for DACA recipients. We also reiterate that DACA is not and was never enough. The time for elected officials to put action where mere words have always been is now. We need passage of legislation that will provide green cards and citizenship for all before January 2023.” 

Ronnie James, Community Engagement Coordinator of UndocuBlack and DACA Recipient said: “While I am grateful my time-bound subscription to the US has survived another court case. I am keenly aware that my future depends on the decisions of yet another judge. DACA remains insufficient and insecure. Myself, fellow DACA recipients, and all other immigrants without permanent status/security deserve the ability to adjust our status through green cards. Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration have the power to do this before the end of the year. Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 by passing (S.4974) would provide access to lawful permanent residence for me and up to 8 million individuals.”

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Black Immigrant Organizations File FOIA Lawsuit Demanding Transparency on the Abuse of Haitians in Del Rio Last Year

Washington D.C.— Black-led immigrant justice organizations Haitian Bridge Alliance, UndocuBlack Network, and African Communities Together filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaint in the Southern District of New York seeking records from the U.S. government on the abuse of Haitian asylum seekers in Del Rio, TX last year. Nearly a year after the original request was submitted on October 1, 2021, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has produced a single document, while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have produced nothing. Justice Action Center, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Innovation Law Lab are co-counsel.

The lawsuit alleges that in September 2021, around 15,000 Haitian asylum seekers fleeing persecution arrived in Del Rio, Texas. Though the Biden administration knew of their pending arrival, it failed to prepare adequate resources to humanely receive these individuals and families exercising their legal right to seek safety. Instead, for two weeks, the administration subjected them to horrific conditions and racist abuse by CBP that included lack of food, water, urgent medical care, and verbal and physical assault. The Biden administration then proceeded to expel Haitians en masse back to danger—including pregnant mothers and infants as young as nine-days-old—totaling more than 25,000 Haitians since September 19, 2021.

“Nearly a year after the original request was submitted on October 1, 2021, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has produced a single document, while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have produced nothing.”

"As we just marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. government's abuse of Haitian asylum seekers in Del Rio, we are disappointed but not surprised that we have to litigate this FOIA request," said Guerline Jozef, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. "Since last September, the Biden administration has skirted accountability at every turn: DHS conducted a sham investigation that focused on the mere 30-minute period captured on camera rather than the full two weeks that Haitians were subjected to abuse. They also failed to interview a single Haitian victim or witness yet concluded that there was no use of excess force. We vehemently oppose these efforts at impunity and hope this FOIA litigation is a step towards the transparency and accountability that impacted Haitians deserve."

"Anti-Blackness is a core tenet of U.S. immigration policy," said Haddy Gassama, National Director of Policy and Advocacy at the UndocuBlack Network. "Not only is this evidenced by the government's abuse of Haitian asylum seekers in Del Rio, but also by its attempts to avoid accountability. For years, Black immigrant advocates have challenged the violent treatment of Black migrants; while the structures and systems that have enabled this cruelty to endure are not new, it is the responsibility of this current administration to rectify those harms. That begins with transparency, ending deterrence policies like Title 42 and ensuring protections are put in place for people seeking safety."

"Since Del Rio, the Biden administration has expelled more than 25,000 Haitians and many more still face uncertainty and discrimination along the border," said Diana Konaté, Policy Director at African Communities Together. "We file this lawsuit in solidarity with the thousands who were abused in Del Rio and who are still fighting for their fundamental, human right to seek safety. DHS's blatantly one-sided investigation into Del Rio with its deliberate failure to interview a single Haitian migrant illustrates the urgency and necessity of this litigation to produce the documents we are entitled to under law."