PCUSA Joins 164 Organizations Urging Halt of Deportations to Haiti

Today 164 human rights organizations, immigrants’ rights organizations, faith-based groups and academic institutions across the United States and Haiti submitted a letter to the Trump Administration, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denouncing the deportation of 61 Haitians on April 7, 2020, and urging them to halt deportations to Haiti. The letter comes on the eve of rumors of a deportation flight bound for Haiti scheduled for as early as April 21, 2020.

U.S. must stop deportations to Haiti: Deportations now during a global pandemic is Trump’s cruel, and usual, punishment of Haitians

April 20, 2020

We the undersigned are concerned about the health and human rights of Haitian immigrants and denounce the Trump Administration’s deportation of 61 Haitian Nationals on April 7, 2020, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.

We the undersigned demand that the Trump Administration halt all deportations to Haiti during the coronavirus pandemic.  More deportations to Haiti are scheduled for the coming days and weeks. Rather than be deported where they face serious harm if they fall ill and risk infecting thousands of others, they should be released from detention into the care of their friends and families so that they may safely quarantine, especially those who are more vulnerable to serious complications from the virus due to age, medical condition or other factors.

We are deeply concerned that all detainees in ICE detention centers have a high risk of exposure to coronavirus.  Dozens of immigration detainees and ICE agents in often-overcrowded detention facilities across the country have tested positive for COVID-19. While states across the country mandate social distancing, in many of the detention centers over 100 detainees live in one dorm room and share only a few toilets.  Detainees have minimal access to medical care, COVID tests, soap or hand sanitizer. Given these conditions, detainees are at high risk of both contracting and dying from COVID-19.

However, reducing overcrowding in detention centers does not mean that ICE should deport detainees without proper removal proceedings in the midst of the largest global pandemic of our lifetimes.  John Sandweg, Former acting director of ICE, concedes that ICE detention centers “are extremely susceptible to outbreaks of infectious diseases” and recommends that the Trump Administration “release the thousands of nonviolent, low-flight-risk detainees currently in ICE custody.”

We are also concerned that Haiti’s fragile government, almost non-existent healthcare system and close, impoverished living conditions would make it challenging to contain and treat a massive surge of COVID-19 cases.  According to a local nonprofit, as a result of international policy and government inaction, Haiti has only 39 physicians to manage COVID-19, 124 ICU beds and the capacity to ventilate 62 people in a country of 11 million people.  Community spread of the disease, 47 cases and three deaths have been reported. These numbers are likely to be far higher, as only 498 tests had been reportedly administered to date.

It’s unclear how the U.S. government could justify deportations when last month it issued a level 4 travel advisory for Haiti, labeling Haiti as dangerous as conflict zones such as Afghanistan, South Sudan and Somalia.  But the deportation on April 7 falls in line with the U.S. government’s long history of discrimination and poor treatment against Haitians.

For over 200 years, Haiti has tried to be a friend to the U.S., but the U.S. has never had Haiti’s best interest.  Haitians continue to pay for winning their independence from France in a slave rebellion in 1804, and for abolishing slavery.  The U.S. did not recognize Haiti’s statehood until 1862, 58 years after it declared independence. In 1915-34, the U.S. Marines illegally invaded and occupied Haiti, seized control of the Haitian National Bank and amended the constitution to allow foreign land ownership.  More recently, the U.S. financially and diplomatically supported the Duvalier dictatorship from 1957-86, supported the overthrow of democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and meddled in multiple recent elections.

The U.S. immigration prison system as we know it today started in the 1990s when the Coast Guard collected tens of thousands of Haitian refugees and imprisoned them in Guantanamo Bay.  Guantanamo was known as the “HIV prison camp” because of the poor treatment of HIV positive Haitian refugees, who were wrongly blamed for the AIDS epidemic in the U.S.

President Donald Trump promised to be a champion for Haitian-Americans on his campaign trail in South Florida in 2016, but this president too has disregarded the rights and dignity of Haitians.  President Trump notoriously referred to Haiti as a sh*ithole country in 2018, and terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians despite evidence from his own State Department that Haiti was unprepared to receive deportees due to a severe housing shortage and public health crisis following the 2010 earthquake, Hurricane Matthew and a cholera epidemic brought by United Nations peacekeeping soldiers. 

In the words of The Miami Herald Editorial Board, “Deportations despite coronavirus is Trump’s cruel, and usual, punishment of Haitians.” 

We proudly stand in solidarity with our Haitian sisters and brothers and urge the Trump Administration to immediately take the following actions:

Halt all deportations of Haitian Nationals back to Haiti;
Release immigrants from detention maximizing use of humanitarian parole, release on recognizance, and where necessary, community-based alternatives to detention, following medical screening and in a manner consistent with public health protocols on COVID-19; and
Coordinate with local groups to ensure housing and transportation upon release, and avoid holding asylum seekers in enclosed or densely populated spaces.


Signed,

A. Philip Randolph Institute
African Advocacy Network (AAN)
Adelanto Visitation Network
Adhikaar
Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention
African Communities Together
Al Oltro Lado
Alianza Americas
Alkalay Law Office
Alternative Chance
AME-SADA, INC.
America’s Voice
Americans for Immigrant Justice
Association of Haitian Professionals (AHP)
Baptist Peace fellowship of North America
Beyond Borders
Black Alliance for Immigration Justice (BAJI)
Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project (BLMP)
Brooklyn Defender Services
Cabinet d’Avocats Spécialisés en Litige Stratégique des Droits Humains (CASLSDH)
Cameroon American Council
CARECEN-LA
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS)
Church World Service (CSW)
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
CLUE-Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Coalition on Human Needs
Community Justice Exchange – National Bail Fund Network
Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
Consortium for a Haiti that Works (CHW)
Communist Party USA (CPUSA)
Crossing Borders – Dubuque
CUNY
Defenseurs Plus
Democratic Socialists of America – Los Angeles
Disaster Law Project
Dominican Development Center, Inc.
Dominican Sister of Mission San Jose
Dominican Sisters of Houston
Dominican Sisters of Tacoma
Environmental Justice Initiative for Haiti
Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement
Families Belong Together
Families For Freedom
First Friends of NJ & NY
Floaves Inc
Fondasyon Mapou
Four Freedoms Forum
Franciscan Sisters of the Poor
Freedom for Immigrants
FWD.us
Gender Action
Grassroots International
Haiti Justice Alliance
Haiti Justice Committee
Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota
Haiti Partners
Haiti Support Network
Haitian-American Community Coalition, Inc. (HCC)
Haitian Americans United for Progress, Inc. (HAUP)
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Haitian Educators League for Progress
Haitian Studies Association
Hastings to Haiti Partnership
Healthworks Ending Detention
Holy Names Sisters
Holy Union Sisters
Hope Border Institute
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Immaculate Heart Community
Immigrant and Refugee Committee, Sisters of the Most Precious Blood
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigrant Legal Defense
Immigrants List
Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice
Innovation Law Lab
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)
Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center
International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School
Jerusalem Agape SDA Church
Jewish Community Action
Justice For Our Neighbors Houston
KODESOLD
Kriyol Dance Collective
La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)
LA Voice
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Li, Li, Li! Read
MADRE
Make the Road NY
Matthew 25
Minnesota Immigrants Rights Action Network (MIRAC)
Minority Humanitarian Foundation
Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights
National Conference of Black Lawyers
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Justice for Our Neighbors
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
National Lawyers Guild Central Arizona
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
New Sanctuary Coalition
Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors
New York State Association for Bilingual Education (NYSABE)
Ohio Immigrant Alliance
Orange County Equality Coalition
Partners In Health
Pax Christi Ayiti
Poder Latinx
Presbyterian Church USA
Priority Africa Network
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
Project Blueprint
Project South
Quixote Center
Reformed Church of Highland Park
Refugee Support Network
Religious of Jesus and Mary
Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
Resilience Orange County
Resources to Resources
 Rian Immigrant Center
RLM Art Studio/Drawing the Line
Salesians of Don Bosco
Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund
San Antonio Region Justice For Our Neighbors
Sant La, Haitian Neighborhood Center
School Sisters of Notre Dame
School Sisters of Notre Dame Atlantic Midwest Province
School Sisters of Notre Dame, Central Pacific Province
Schools of the America Watch (SOAW) East Bay, California
Sequoia Potential
Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network (SIREN)
Sinsinawa Dominican Associates
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sister of Charity of Leavenworth
Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross USA Province
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Sisters of St. Joseph
Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange
Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood NY Office of Justice, Peace, Integrity of Creation
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, LA Province
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus & Mary
Sisters of the Living Word
Still Waters Anti-trafficking Program
Society of the Holy Child Jesus, American Province
South Texas Human Rights Center
SFV Indivisible
The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
The Haitian Women’s Collective
The Legal Aid Society (New York)
The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
Transforming Justice Orange County
UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United We Dream
Venice Resistance
 Witness at the Border
Women For Orange County
Woodhull Freedom Foundation